


Super Experiment

by Phanlyn18



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Almost Drowning, Angst, Cussing, Dan and Phil are dorky nerds, Existential/Death thoughts, Explicit Language, Fluff, Humor, If i can actually do angst, M/M, My First Fanfic, Not Really Character Death, References to Drugs, Superpowers, very few drug references though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2018-09-11 17:22:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8999884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phanlyn18/pseuds/Phanlyn18
Summary: What happens when someone who usually stays inside on the internet goes for a night out just for once and then gets dragged into a crazy scientist's weird experiment?  It's a specific question but it's the question Dan and Phil have been asking themselves since they got dragged into this.  Now while not accidentally killing themselves or others with new found powers from the experiment, Dan and Phil have to find out who is behind this and somehow stop them all badass and video game like.  Or probably not.





	1. The First Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fanfic! It's really probably a bit stupid and horrible but I hope you enjoy it anyways! I will try to update it often.

Bright sunlight of the fresh New Year morning shone through the blinds.  Instead of opening his eyes and welcoming the greeting light, Dan was groaning and covering his head with his pillow.  His head was pounding so much he was almost certain the neighbors could hear it.  The darkness brought by the pillow was a comfort and drowned out the relentless pounding that happened with the light.  Closing his eyes for added comfort, Dan tried to think of what was the cause of this near destruction of his brain.

The previous night was New Year's Eve.

Phil and himself went out with friends.

Dan took a deep breath before thinking some more of what happened.  But nothing came through.  Those were the only two things Dan could remember from the night before.  As memory loss is not a symptom of hangovers that usually comes to Dan, this worried him.  With eyes still closed, he throws his pillow at the rude window and sits up.  Internally, he was screaming at himself in protest.  The dark sheets of the bed felt like a heaven to never leave.  But Dan's logic concluded he should work on figuring out this problem.  Grabbing his phone, he squinted to turn the brightness down enough to look at it without burning his eyes off.  The time read 11:30 in the morning on January 1st.  Dan checked to see he had a few messages from his friends asking if Phil and himself had made it home safely.  None of the texts spoke a word of what happened the previous night.  One interesting detail was picked out from a text from Louise though.

 **Louise:** _Hey hope you guys made it home okay and that Phil is well.  I never seen him look that sick._

Dan squinted at the text before putting his phone down.   _Phil was sick last night?  He probably has Satan's hangover this morning then if I feel like dynamite was implanted in my head._ He had thought to himself before pulling himself out of bed.  Blindly, he stumbled out of this room and down to the bathroom.  Dan was looking in the medicine cabinet for some aspirin but could not find any.  "You have to be fucking kidding me..." Dan cursed at the cabinet.  Slamming the cabinet shut, he turned towards the mirror over the sink.  Hair stuck out everywhere in curly strands.  His pajamas were on backward and inside out.  The brown eyes staring back at him in the mirror were saggy and tired.  Other than those, Dan thought that he did not look like major shit.  After trying to fix his hair slightly, Dan dragged himself back up the stairs to the hall.  But before he was up the stairs, he was almost falling down the stairs as he ran into Phil. 

"Ah!  Phil!  You could have killed me!" Dan barked at Phil before groaning at the attack his pounding head went through directly after yelling.  Looking at Phil, he did not look like he felt just as crap as Dan did.  His black dyed hair was still a bit messy but it looks like he had mostly straightened it out before they ran into each other.  Phil was wearing his glasses though and the eyes underneath were wide but still filled with exhaustion.  Dan doesn't even register that Phil hands him the aspirin until Phil starts addressing him, "You might need this.  You look like you feel just as crappy as I did when I woke up." All Dan could do in response was to nod.

After taking the aspirin and drinking some water, both of them ended up sitting next to each other in the lounge.  The pounding in Dan's head was reduced to a dull throb that slowly was starting to fade away.  Dan sighed with the relief and looked at Phil and mumbled, "What the fuck happened last night?"  Phil's eyes went to the floor.  The wood floors suddenly looked very intriguing.   _Well, I was hoping you knew but it looks like we both got too fucking wasted or something to remember._  Dan looked at Phil a little curious.  He had heard that.  It sounded more like a thought in his own head but only in Phil's voice.  Maybe he was just going crazy.  Or maybe it was something else.  Maybe Phil did say that but Dan wasn't paying attention.  Or Dan's thoughts are now being narrated by Mr. Philip Lester next to him which Dan assumes he needs to spend less time with him.  Either way, Dan sighed and spoke up again, "So neither of us know what happened last night and we both woke up with the worst hangovers of our lives.  What the fuck we do now?"

"How about I call Louise and see if she knows?" Phil suggested as he grabbed his phone.  "Sounds good," Dan agreed before standing up, "I am going to get some breakfast in the meantime.  You want anything?" Scrolling through his contacts, the other man shakes his head before holding the phone up to his ear.  Dan takes this as a signal to currently retire to the kitchen for the food he promised himself.  

Searching through the messy cupboards proved to be unsuccessful.  In fact, searching through the whole kitchen seemed pretty unsuccessful.  The only food Dan could find in the kitchen were snacks like crisps and biscuits as well as things for making stuff for dinner.  One last check of the fridge proved they seemed to be out of milk as well.   _I feel like all of this might be dying effects from the fuckery that was 2016._ Dan thought to himself before going back to the lounge where Phil was on his laptop.  Once Dan entered, Phil started talking while still looking at his laptop, "Nobody is answering their phones.  Every one I tried just went to voicemail," Turning the laptop to Dan, he continued his explanation, "See, I have even checked their twitters and such.  The last activity from anyone was Louise's text to us at about 1:30 AM."

Dan gawked at his best friend before responding, "What the fuck does this all have to do with figuring out what happened last night?" Dan was thoroughly still highly confused as to what was going on but decided to just try to listen to Phil.  "Luckily, people posted pictures online from last night." He looked like Vanna White presenting the board as he showed Dan a particular picture of all of them together last night.  The background looked like it was some kind of club or bar.  In total, there were 6 people including themselves.  The other 4 people were Felix, Marzia, PJ, and Louise.  Dan was in the front holding up what seemed to be Felix's phone (as he was the one who posted the picture) with his arm around a smiling Phil.  Their friends were all around them smiling with New Year hats and other fun things.  Dan could tell was already at least the littlest bit drunk in the picture but Phil, on the other hand, looked completely sober.  Louise also seemed sober as well.  The other three looked like they had been drinking a bit like Dan had.  But unless you knew exactly how everyone in the photo looked drunk, it was impossible to tell any of them were drunk.

This had only served to confuse Dan more, "I am not that drunk there and you are completely sober.  How is it possible we don't remember any of this then?" Phil shrugged and opened another tab which was the Tumblr of a fan account.  Not only had the super analyzed the picture on a post of theirs, but they had also figured out the bar they were at.  "You know," Dan pondered as he looked at the post, "Sometimes I feel extremely creeped out by our fandom's level of stalking but for this particular reason I feel sorta grateful." Both of them shared a laugh for the first time that day.  After coming down from laughing, they both smiled and Phil agrees, "Yeah you have a point there.  Stalking is good when you mysteriously lost your memory!  Anyways," He turns back to the sticker covered computer and went back to the full version of the picture, "I can't figure out anything else for now from this.  I thought to maybe wait a little while and see if anyone calls back or call again.  We apparently left earlier than them from what I am assuming so they might still be asleep."

Dan nodded in agreement, "While you do that, I am going to go get dressed and go to the store because we are seemingly out of milk and cereal and like all things breakfast." He looks at his flatmate with an accusing glare but also a smile.  Phil laughed and shrugged, "Hey!  Maybe 2017 will be the year I stop stealing all your cereal!" Dan rolled his eyes before starting to leave the lounge, "Phil both you and I know that is only going to end up happening when aliens come and anal probe you to stop doing it!" Before Dan makes it to his room, he hears Phil yell from the lounge, "HEY YOU DON'T KNOW MAYBE THATS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED LAST NIGHT AND THATS WHY WE HAVE NO MEMORY!" His laughter couldn't be contained as he closes his bedroom door.

After looking in his wardrobe, Dan decided to wear is "potato sack" jumper as everyone likes to call it along with skinny jeans out.  Looking into the mirror in his room, he tries to sort out his hair.  Straightening it wouldn't be worth it so it remained the curly hobbit mess he woke up with.  Only, a little less like a bush and resembling his normal fringe now.  He still looked exhausted based on his eyes.  After rubbing them to try and get rid of their exhausted gaze, Dan opens his eyes and looks at them in the mirror to see them glowing bright red around the pupil.  The scream that followed ran around the whole apartment.  But the glowing was gone in a blink of an eye.  Phil was in the room in two.

"What the hell are you screaming for Dan?" Phil asked, trying to catch his breath from running to Dan's room.  His glasses rested crookedly on his face now and tightly in his grip was his cell phone.  Dan looked at his friend, trying to catch his breath as well.   _Phil is just gonna think I am crazy if I told him my eyes were just FUCKING GLOWING RED!_ He tried to think logically.

"Nothing.  Just thought I saw a moth," Dan lied.  But the gaze he was receiving from Phil told him he knew his lie was utter bullshit.  Quickly, the subject was changed, "So!  Did you get a hold of anyone?" Dan gestured to Phil's phone.  He shook his head, "Nope.  No one answered.  It's a tiny bit strange to think about it,"  _Something more sinister is going on here._  Dan stopped when he heard Phil's voice loud and clear once again in his own head.  He nodded without looking at Phil, making sure he didn't see his mouth moving before thinking silently  _I agree with you Phil.  Something strange is going on.  What are we going to do?  Are we just suppose to forget about last night and how I had glowing eyes?_

Phil turned to Dan and tried looking directly into his eyes, "What do you mean you had glowing eyes?"  Dan's eyes widened and quickly grabbed his coat and stumbled, "I-I have to go get milk and cereal." He didn't leave a chance for his friend to reply before running out.  As he ran out, he thought to himself,  _Phil heard my thoughts.  He actually heard my thoughts._ Dan was only halfway down the block before a thought that wasn't his entered his head.   _What the fuck did we end up getting into Dan?_


	2. Time to Run

Dan was briskly walking.  Both his and Phil's panicked thoughts were attacking his head harshly.  The headache Dan woke with came back.  He couldn't process all the thoughts in his head anymore, half of which were not even his and that half also starting to grow louder with panic.  Dan just couldn't take it anymore.  He was shrieking, "SHUT UP!" Dan looked forward again after screaming to see that in front of him stood a very scared mother holding her crying son who looked only 3 at the oldest.  Before he could awkwardly stutter an apology, the mother quickly slapped him.  She proceeded to scold him, "You asshole!  I'm sorry my child just got hurt and needs to cry like children do when they are hurt!" Dan was then shoved out of the way as the women ran away.  Down the street were two darkly dressed business men watching the mother rush away.  They then looked back at Dan.  Hiding his face in embarrassment, Dan thought to Phil,  _Call me now this mind thing is fucking my mind and killing it._

Not even a full minute after the thought, Phil's ringtone started playing.  The Sonic ringtone was a slight comfort.  It gave a sense of normality as everything was but normal at the moment.  Dan answered the phone, "Thanks.  I may have accidentally yelled shut up at a mother and her son while trying to yell shut up to my-our thoughts." This caused a slight chuckle to come from the other end, "So that explains how you were thinking 'Kill me now' on constant repeat in that awkward voice you have!" Dan tried his hardest to contain his smile and chuckle, "Get used to that. I think it often." He starts walking slower than earlier.  "So somehow we can read each other minds after whatever happened last night that neither of us can remember," Phil summarized.  Dan scoffed at him and sarcastically said, "Thank you Captain Obvious I would I have never figured that out on my own!"  Phil shot back, "Dan this isn't the time for being sarcastic!" He didn't say the next thing out loud but instead thought it.  To Dan, even though this whole mind thing was creepy and freaky, it made him feel a little better confining things to Phil.  They both thought a lot.  Most of their time together was usually silent whilst scrolling computers with the occasional expression of whatever was on their minds.  It felt easier just thinking about things sometimes than verbalizing.  Dan thought to his best friend.   _It helps me feel better.  I'm a little scared if you haven't noticed._

Phil was silent for a moment before speaking, "Sorry.  We need to figure out something though.  What if this mind thing is permanent?  Like I am glad it's with just you Dan and not everyone I can hear the thoughts of or it was with some crazy murderer stranger that used my thoughts to murder me but still."  Dan sighed, not exactly knowing how to respond, and started looking around at his surroundings.  He was only a little ways away from the store now.  Even though it was New Year's Day, the city still seemed pretty busy.  Less than usual but still busy none the less.  All the people around were just going through their lives as normal.  It was a bit crazy of a feeling to Dan.  They didn't have their years start with the mind fuckery that they were currently trying to deal with.  Almost everyone was just going along the normal lives and not paying a second mind to Dan.  Almost everyone.  Looking down the block he was on, he saw the same two darkly dressed business men from earlier, staring directly at him.

The first man was short and very thin.  If his face didn't have the clear wrinkles and signs of aging then he could have easily passed as a 12 or 13-year-old boy right before puberty hit.  His glaring eyes were hiding beneath the sunglasses he was wearing.  Neatly combed, dark blond hair topped the man's head.  The second man was just as tall as Dan and a littler heavier set too.  By his face, he looked younger than his partner having no visible signings of extreme aging.  His brown hair was combed back in a similar style to the first one.  Underneath his sunglasses, it seemed like he was trying to gaze into Dan's soul.  This, as it would any normal human, made him feel uncomfortable and start walking.

Phil impatiently spoke on the phone, "Dan?  Hello?  Back to reality here." There was no verbal response to him.  Instead, Dan decided to think this little detail instead for obvious reasons,  _I'm being followed by two business looking dudes.  I think their business is with me._ Dan managed to sneak another glance back at the two possible bringers of his demise.  Their stares were still focused on him.  Dan could hear Phil talking in the background over the phone but quickly just hung up and started running.  The two quickly followed.

Dan felt as though he was going to collapse, panting for air, about 3 minutes into running for his life.  The adrenaline that was just starting to kick in was the only power that was keeping him running.  Trying to outsmart the men behind him, Dan turned into an alley, planning and running through the maze of the alley to lose them.  The alley just happened to end in a dead end.  "Fuck my life!" Dan panted as he hit the wall.  He turned towards his pursuers and watched as the walked toward him.  Dan's heart was pounding at one million miles per hour as he desperately looked around the dark alley for some escape.  "Come on Danny.  Time to go!" The short one said as they approached him.  It was almost like they were trying to coax a dog to come with them to the pound and Dan was the dog.

 _Dan, where are you?  I am gonna come._  Phil scared but calm voice ran through Dan's head.  He closed his eyes and focused on his thoughts and Phil,  _Well I am in an alley at a dead end about to be murdered, assaulted, kidnapped, or all three.  Other than that I have no clue.  I'm so fucked._ As Dan had his eyes closed, he felt heat gather in the palms of his hands.  Assuming it was from the fists that they were clenched in, Dan paid it no mind.  That is until the soft crackling of fire could be heard.  His eyes opened and he looked down.  Surrounding Dan's hands were balls of glowing red fire.  His hands were not being burned however.  The fire was under his control.  All Dan could do was stare.  After his shock wore down, it was replaced with the logic of  _MY HANDS ARE ON FIRE THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!_  Dan proceeded to scream loudly and start running while waving his hands furiously.  Kinda like a little kid who's first marshmallow they tried to roast went up in flames.

The scary business dudes didn't seem phased by the fire but they both started getting a workout at avoiding it.  Dan continued his screaming but now it was directed at the two men, "YEAH JUST STAND THERE WHILE I HAVE FIRE IN MY HANDS LIKE A FUCKING FIREBENDER DON'T EVEN TRY TO HELP HERE!" The taller of the two men cleared his throat, "Hey don't panic!  We can fix that yeah.  Just get into our van over there!" Dan tried to calm down slightly and consider his options.  Go with the business dudes or deal with fire hands for the rest of his life.  Considering the fire wasn't hurting himself, he went with the one that didn't involve climbing into a suspicious white van.  Dan shakily held his hands straight out with uncertainty, one pointing towards one of the men each, "Stay back and let me go.  I am not afraid to use this on either of you!" Dan had to muster up as much confidence he had in his speaking voice as his thoughts were the complete opposite  _I am fucking terrified of using these flamethrower hands!_  The shorter of the two laughed, slightly amused, "Wow so threatening.  Carl, get the gun." The tall one, Carl as Dan now knew, quickly grabbed a decent sized out of his suitcase.  If Dan hadn't already shit his pants he did once he saw the gun pointing at him.   _I am gonna fucking die.  Alright.  Hello death it is nice to meet you so soon._

In the meantime, Phil was panicking back in their flat.  He had changed out of his pajamas into regular skinny jeans and his blue pug sweater but remained in his glasses.  That was mainly because he couldn't find the new contacts he got.  Dan's thoughts were still playing in Phil's head with little context as to what was actually going on.  All he knew was that Dan was trapped in an alley and somehow his hands are on fire.  Neither of those seemed good.  Phil tried thinking to Dan again.   _Dan, I need you to try and give me some sort of clue as to where you are._ In classic Dan fashion, his reply was sarcastic.   _Phil I am the only person in all of London with their hands on fire and about to die._ Phil sighed, slightly frustrated as he looked out the lounge window.  Maybe they were nearby.  He looked around, not spotting them.  Instead, a man and a woman who were both wearing business suits and shades, stood right outside their build.  As if on cue, they stared directly at the window Phil was looking out at.  He drew the curtains as he saw them start to rush in.   _Danisonfire is going to have to wait for his help as I seem to have a situation to deal with here._  The thought ran by in a panicked mood as Phil ran in a panicked mood to go barricade the door.   _Phil, never call me that again and secondly, are there suited people after you as well?_ Dan's thought sounded as though he isn't surprised anymore.  If they were being honest, Phil wasn't too surprised anymore either.

 _This reminds me slightly of the gentlemen._ Phil thought.   _Like they wear suits and they are coming after us.  And neither of us are really speaking!  Maybe if we scream loud enough that will make them die?_ Pounding started coming through the door.  This made Phil yelp before stampeding up the stairs to the kitchen.  If he could get out the fire escape without them knowing, he can try to find Dan.  Dan interrupted Phil's escape plan,  _Sorry to burst your bubble Phil but Buffy never got fire powers so I highly doubt the solution to this is coming from Buffy.  Besides Phil, we are total Zanders, not Buffys.  We are not going to be able to badass our way out of this._ Phil physically rolled his eyes at Dan as he opened the kitchen window.   _Zander helped save the world too Dan!  Remember when he stopped that bomb from blowing up the high school while the others were trying to destroy that demon?_   Phil fought back.  The side debate about Buffy served as a nice little distraction to the current situation at hand.  Dan somehow managed to laugh in his thoughts,  _Phil, Zander also got an STD from the ancient revenge seeking Native American by accidentally falling into a tomb place in one episode.  If we are going off of stuff like that we are so going to die._ Phil sighed and replied back annoyed,  _Whatever Dan.  He never died at any time in the series though so we will be fine.  Anyways, should we get focused back on not dying?_ Dan seemed to agree and stopped debating with Phil. 

Phil started his descent down the rickety old fire escape.  The rusty metal was freezing from sitting out in the cold winter winds.  It was at the point Phil realized he forgot his coat.  It was too late now.  No going back.  Once his feet were safely on the ground he started running.  He didn't even know where he was going.  You could give Phil a map and he would probably still get lost.  Luckily, Phil had a general idea of how to get to the store.  Dan had to be along the way.  As he ran up to the front of the building, he saw the two suited people come out and glare at him.  With a yelp and only a half a second hesitation, Phil started to sprint away.  For a second, he felt like the flash as he was running faster than he physically ever had in his entire life.  But considering Phil's athletic skill, that bar was not set very high to beat.  And apparently, it wasn't high for his attackers to beat either.  Once they caught up with Phil, they pinned him down onto the concrete.  Struggling was useless.   _Dan help me!  I don't have fire hands and I am struggling here!_

It was rather convenient timing as within the next minute, fire skidded across the enemies backs.  They screamed in pain and rolled off Phil.  He quickly got up to see Dan standing there, rather impressed but slightly horrified with himself.  Before Phil could thank him for his life or ask him how he got away from his dudes, Dan spoke up, "We need to get out of here.  Now." With that, Dan grabbed Phil's hand with his right hand as the left was still oozing fire, and they ran.


	3. Water you doing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer chapter than the other two so far. I just sorta felt that this whole scene needed to be one chapter and not split into two. Plus I knew exactly where I wanted to end it. It just took longer than I expected to get to that point. So enjoy the longer chapter!

Dan and Phil only managed to make it five blocks before they had to stop and hail a cab. Dan, whilst waiting for a cab and catching his breath, had managed to figure out how to get the fire from his left hand to go away. Phil looked down at his own hands as the cab was pulling up. Dan has become the human torch but what about him? Nothing, except the whole mind reading thing, has happened to him. Something had to happen though. These people were after both of them and not just Dan. "Phil... come on the taxi..." Dan panted out as he pulled Phil into the car.

The taxi driver glared at the boys as they collapsed into the backseat. Dan assumed that they probably did look suspicious or sick. His own hair was at the most hobbitness it could possibly achieve while both of them were sweating and panting.  With a huge breath, Dan mumbled out to the driver, "Kings Cross Station please..." The driver looked like he was about in his 50's and hating life.  His green eyes glared at the two in the backseat for a bit before starting to drive.  The disgusting glass separating the seats was pulled shut, leaving Dan and Phil some more privacy in the back seat.  Phil turned his head to Dan and whispered, "Why are we going to Kings Cross?  Are we trying to head to Hogwarts?" That earned Phil an eye roll from his friend before a reply, "I was thinking a surprise trip to either my family or yours.  Whoever are chasing us, they can't possibly know where that would be." Phil nodded before turning away to look out the window.  London was rushing past.  The familiarity of their neighborhood faded as they entered a different part of the city.

Phil's focus was dragged away from the window by a tug of his hand.  Turning his head around, he faced Dan as he spoke, "My parents went on a trip to visit my grandma so we aren't going to be able to go there." Phil nodded and slid his hand from Dan's grasp, "My parents should let us stay with them.  They told me around Christmas they have nothing planned for New Year's this year." Dan quickly grabbed Phil's hand again and thought, _Sorry.  Your hands are cold.  My hands are pretty hot right now.  This nicely balances it._   Phil could feel the heat radiating from Dan's hand.  He never realized his own hands were that cold.  Well, it was January and very chilly outside that day.  Neither of the boys had thought of grabbing their coats either.  Dan's was probably from lack of feeling like he needed it but Phil just outright forgot.  That could explain his cold hands.  Either way, Phil just left Dan to hold his hand while they rode in the taxi.

About 15 minutes later, the taxi approached the station.  Dan had finally let go of Phil's freezing hand to grab his wallet.  But Phil was already paying the driver and then rushing out of the cab.  Dan took this as his cue to follow briskly.  The car ride really helped give both of them the chance to relax and get prepared for whatever was coming next.  The atmosphere was so quiet in the taxi that Dan didn't want to go into the busy train station.  At every person that passed, he looked at them quickly to make sure they didn't recognize them.  As his nerves grew, Dan's hands proceeded to get warmer and warmer until it felt like the heat was going to burst.  Now everyone might not share this opinion, but to Dan, having flaming hands in a public place such as Kings Cross would not be a good idea.  Phil was walking ahead of Dan.  He looked nowhere near as nervous as Dan but that was just because he could hide it better.  Dan ran a bit to catch up with Phil and grabbed his hand.  The freezing hand that belonged to his friend for some reason cooled Dan's hands down as well.  Phil looked over at him once they are side to side,  _Why is your hand literally burning?_ All Dan could do was shrug in response and think,  _Unless you want Danny McFlamey Hands to deal with while we are in Kings Cross I suggest you be a good friend and let me use your freezing hands._  Phil cracked a small smile and laughed, "Wow Dan, someone is a real hot head today!" Dan ended up shoving a laughing Phil away from him while suppressing his own laughter.  "You are really making jokes like that at a time like this Phil?" Dan snorted to Phil who smiled.  He gently grabbed Dan's still burning hand again, "Yes because if it's any sign from your hands, you really need to chill out!" Dan laughed quietly and tugged his friend forward, "Come on, we have to go get those train tickets you spork."

Dan lead the pair up to the place where they buy the tickets and waited in the short line.  Being New Year's Day, not many people were out traveling.  Nor were many people out working either.  So the few travelers getting tickets were resigned to one line with one worker.  The boys in the back of the line just hoped there were actually trains going up north that were leaving soon.  Dan started gazing at the board of trains for a bit before spotting the one they needed, "Phil look.  There is a train leaving for up north in 15 minutes."  Phil looked up at the board and looked a bit in shock, "Is it already almost 2?" The rhetorical question never even got a sarcastic response as Dan and Phil were spotted.  "Dan and Phil!" Dan stiffened as their names were called out from behind them.  Phil was the first to turn to the two higher pitched voices who called their names.  Behind them in the line were two subscribers who were smiling up at them.  Dan visibly relaxed as he turned as well.

The first teenager was the shorter and younger looking one, probably 15 years of age.  Her hair was long and blonde.  Blue eyes surrounded by light makeup were excitedly gleaming on her face.  She was smart and actually wearing a coat.  Underneath it was a galaxy sweater that was from the Dan and Phil shop. The second teenager looks about 17 or 18.  Somewhere around the age of having just got out of secondary school.  Their hair went to about halfway down their ears lengthwise.  The color of their hair matched the girl's as well as their eyes.  Compared to the girl, they were only a few inches taller.  They were also wearing a coat while wearing a tee shirt underneath that said "A life without music would be flat" only for the 'be flat' part it was the note instead.  The older of the two spoke first, "Hi!  I am Sam and this is my sister Emily and we um..." Sam started to trail off with not knowing what to say.  Emily pitched in, "We love your videos and we noticed you guys in line and we had to come here anyway so we wanted to say hi!"

 _What if this is some sort of trap or distraction from the suited guys and once all the other people in line are gone they are gonna swoop down from the ceiling like WHAAAH WE GOT YOU NOW DAN AND PHIL!_ Phil thought and glanced at Dan quickly.  Dan rolled his eyes and didn't respond to Phil.  Instead, he smiled at the two teens, "Well hello then!  2017 eh?  How is your New Year so far?" Dan took the opportunity while Sam was talking to respond to Phil,  _And if they are actual subscribers, which they probably are.  They are gonna spread all along the internet how you are somehow SICK WITH AN INCURABLE DISEASE BECAUSE PHIL WASN'T SMILING WHEN THEY MET THEM AND DAN SEEMED NERVOUS AT FIRST SINCE HE DOESN'T WANT THE NEWS OF HIS DYING LOVER OUT TO THE PUBLIC!_ This made Phil burst out laughing.  The laughing was spread to the other three for a bit before Phil smiled at the teenagers, "You guys maybe want a selfie?" Of course, the two subscribers quickly agreed.

In the moment they were taking the selfie, the little relaxing composure Dan had while interacting with Emily and Sam quickly melted away in a millisecond.  It was just as quickly replaced with panic.  Behind them, just entering the area, were Dan's two suited friends from earlier.  Carl and the shorter one, who Dan still didn't know the name of, looked around the station.  Their clothes both still had burn marks from where Dan unheroically punched them then ran away.  The only way Dan saw them was through the selfie camera.  His hands started to warm up again as he took the selfie and handed back the phone.  Dan then opened his arms and hugged both the teens, "Thanks for saying hi!  But it looks like it's our turn to get our tickets!" Phil noticed Dan's slightly more rushed behavior he proceeded to give a hug to Emily and Sam.  When Phil was pulling away from the hugs, he finally spotted the men in suits standing about 10 meters away.  Phil proceeded to start to feel anxious.  As soon as their goodbyes were done, Dan and Phil walked up to the lady selling the tickets.

 _Are those the guys who were chasing you earlier Dan?_ Phil thought as Dan was getting their tickets.  Dan could only quickly reply by grabbing Phil's hand.  Dan's hand was so hot, he could have sworn he heard a little sizzle and release of steam as he grabbed Phil's hand.  The little old lady who was selling tickets smiled at the two boys, "Well hello.  Where will you two be heading off this year?" Dan politely smiled back before replying, "2 tickets for the 2 o'clock train up north." The old lady nodded and slowly started typing something on the computer.  One. Keyboard. Key. At. A. Time.  If Dan and Phil were not at the risk getting taken away by the two suited guys to their apparent deaths, the two would not have been internally screaming and wanting to just run to the train and hijack it so they could get the hell out of there.  But the two externally remained silent and waited the eternity before the lady handed them their tickets.  "Thank you!" They both shouted in sync before running towards the platform.

After they gotten to the platform, the two looked around to find the suited duo nowhere in site.  Both of them, now out of breath again, boarded the waiting train with 5 minutes until the scheduled departure.  Inside the train, there seemed to be almost no passengers.  The few passengers on the train car they entered in were mainly asleep or had headphones in.  Dan and Phil walked passed them and went into the next car which was completely empty.  They both collapsed into a seat before Dan was the first to speak, "You think they are going to follow us?" Phil shrugged and leaned his head back against the seat.  His glasses were crooked on his face but surprisingly not broken.  He silently adjusted them before thinking,  _With how our luck has been this year, I wouldn't be surprised if they came onto the train right now._ Dan bit his lip and looked through the door of the car at the main entrance of the train where the few passengers were entering.  As their luck is, the two subscribers from earlier enter the train as well as the two suited dudes following them, just as the train was closing the doors to set off.  "Shit shit shit!" Dan muttered as he quickly got back into the seat, "If there is any plus, at least we have witnesses!" Phil bit his lip and waited.  Neither of the pairs walked back to the car they were on.  Once the train started moving, both of them let out a sigh of temporary relief.  Moving around on the train wasn't allowed unless it was to the restroom.

"Okay so the ride there we are safe but what about when the train gets there?" Dan asked quietly.  They were still the only two that remained in that train car, but both still felt the need to whisper.  Phil whispered back, "We could try getting off before then?" Dan looks at Phil, about to reply before Phil spoke again, "Before we reach the stop.  Like while the train is still moving." This just serves to dumbfound Dan.  His face looked at Phil with disbelief.  Phil took this as a sign to continue, "Like the suit guys would be crazy enough to follow us then!" Dan's voice raised, not only in volume but also pitch, as he responded to his friend, "Are you fucking mental!?  You want to escape the suited guys by jumping off a moving train and killing ourselves!?  Did you hit your head too hard earlier or something!?" Phil calmly listened to Dan panic as he looked around the train car.  The train's windows could not be opened as the majority of them were locked for safety reasons.  Along with that, they were too small for both of them to climb out in time for a safe landing.  His eyes then wandered to the ceiling where he spotted their escape.  The emergency hatch in the ceiling that leads to the roof of the train.  "That's it," Phil mumbled quietly to himself, causing Dan to stop his ranting on how psychotic Phil has gone.  Dan follows Phil's gaze before shaking his head, "Oh hell no.  You are not talking me into that!"

Despite what Dan said, only moments later was Dan lifting Phil up towards the hatch, "I can't believe you talked me into this!" Phil, currently reevaluating his life choices while trying to stay steady by balancing on one of the seats with the other leg being held up by Dan, worked on opening the hatch.  "Oh please, I know you would never let me do this alone!" Phil said as he managed to open the hatch.  The wind from outside started roaring in, making it hard to hear each other speak.  Dan resorted to thinking,  _THATS BECAUSE YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE THIS ON YOUR OWN BEFORE YOU WENT CRAZY!_ Phil rolled his eyes and carefully pulled himself through the hatch.  Immediately as he got on the roof, he was almost blown off.  Phil screamed as he ended up squatting on the roof and grabbing onto the edge of the hatch to steady himself.  He peered down through the hatch at Dan,  _Come on Dan!  You can do it!_ Dan glared up at him and mentally yelled,  _COMING FROM THE GUY ALREADY ON THE FUCKING ROOF WHO HAD MY HELP TO GET HIM BLOODY UP THERE!_ Carefully, Dan got on the top of the seat such as Phil had.  Only instead of his leg being held up from the aisle like he had done for Phil, Dan was spread with each foot resting on the top of a seat, straddling the aisle.  He was hoping and praying nobody was coming into the train car at that moment.  Dan looked up and grabbed onto the edge of the hatch.  Phil reached down and grabbed onto his arms.   _Ready Dan?  You need to try and jump and pull yourself up.  I pull as well._ Phil calmly thought as Dan looked completely freaked out.  He remained looking up at Phil and nodded, nevermind how much he was positive he was going to die.  Phil gave him a reassuring smile before counting down mentally,  _Alright.  In 3...2...1...now!_

Dan had closed his eyes as he jumped up from the seats and started pulling himself up.  Phil was pulling on his arms as well.  Next thing he knew, Phil moved to pull at Dan's waist and then Dan was also on the roof.  As he felt the ridged surface of the train roof and the extreme wind blowing through his hair, Dan opened his eyes to see Phil sitting in front of him with a grin.   _See?  You really think they would follow us up here?  Now all we have to do is wait._ Phil thought cockily.  Dan smiled and relaxed a tiny bit.  However, this didn't last for long.  As Phil was looking over at the landscape to the right of the train, Dan looked at the hatch and saw the head of the taller of the two suited guys pop out.  "SHIT!" Dan yelled and looked at Phil who hadn't noticed the head.  Quickly, Dan's let his hands set ablaze and shot a fireball at the dudes head.  This, Phil noticed and turned to see the dude duck just in time.  "AND YOU SAID THEY WOULDN'T FOLLOW US!" Dan shouted at Phil before standing up as much as he could without falling off.  The two attackers proceeded to climb onto the roof with them, once again holding the tranquilizer gun.  The shorter one barked, "YOU TWO ARE TRAPPED NOW!  CARL SHOOT THEM!" Carl proceeded to load the gun with darts and aim them at Dan and Phil.  Phil looked at Dan,  _Dan you are going to have to take care of this.  I have to continue watching for where we get off._ Dan looked at Phil like he was insane before looking back at the barrel of the gun.  Quickly, he started shooting fireballs, with the hand he wasn't using to keep steady on the roof, as Carl shot darts.  The fireballs epically burned the darts in mid-air.  "HA YOUR DARTS ARE NO MATCH FOR FIREPOWER!" Dan laughed, more confident now as he continued burning the darts, starting to even show off a bit with his fire.  Carl looked frustrated as each dart kept missing or getting burned in thin air.  He turned to his partner, "WALTER THIS IS YOUR JOB TOO!" The short one, Walter, pulled out another gun and started loading it with darts.  Now, both of them were shooting while Dan was using both of hands now burn them.  

 _Phil, are we almost there?_ Dan pleaded to Phil as there were getting to be a lot more close calls with the darts.  Phil shook his head, causing Dan to groan.  Then, one dart shot by Walter was coming straight for Dan before he was able to burn it.  With a yell, he tried jumping out of the way.  Dan ended up avoiding the dart.  He also ended up avoiding his balance on the train with a scream.

Phil quickly started panicking when he saw Dan start to fall.  "DAN!" Phil yelled as he reached out and tried grabbing onto Dan.  Dan had already accepted his death until he felt Phil's freezing hand grab onto his own.  He looked up to see Phil, barely hanging onto the edge of the train, desperately trying to hold onto Dan and he hung off the train.  Dan thought as he looked at Phil, _Phil I can't deflect the darts!  They are gonna shoot us and we are going to fall to our deaths!_ Phil shook his head.  But Dan could tell that he was even doubting how much longer they have left,  _It will be okay Dan.  They don't exactly want us dead yet remember!  We just need to hold on a little longer!_  Behind Phil, yelling could be heard from the duo with guns.  "CARL KEEP SHOOTING!" Walter barked at his partner.  "BUT THAT WILL KILL THEM!" Carl yelled.  Walter proceeded to load the gun with bullets instead of darts, "IF WE CANT CAPTURE THEM WE HAVE TO KILL THEM CARL THATS WHAT THE BOSS SAID!" At this statement, Dan and Phil looked directly at each other and desperately tried to get Dan back up on the roof.  "PHIL WE ARE GOING TO DIE!" Dan cried out, tears starting to fill his eyes.  He thought about death a lot.  He has accepted it before even.  Why was he terrified of dying now?  That's when Dan's life flashed before his eyes.His childhood years were barely a blink.  The more recent years took a bit longer.  Dan reflected and relived the best years of his life more than the rest.  When Dan was back in the moment, he carefully watched, preparing for their death.  Then everything seemed to start going in slow motion.

Phil was staring down at Dan.  He could tell that Phil was completely terrified.  Both of their hands gripped onto the other tighter in desperation.  Phil closed his eyes tightly, a sure sign to Dan that he was probably going to start crying.  Both of their thoughts seemed loud and rushing yet almost completely silent at the same time.  After what seemed like a couple minutes, even though it was only just a split second, Dan heard one thought of Phil's loud and clear in his head.   _This was the most fun I ever had.  Dan, this can't be the end._ With that, Phil opened his eyes.  Dan had to turn away as he was almost blinded by the bright blue light that has replaced Phil's pupils.  He was looking behind Phil at the two suited men.  They were aiming their guns at himself and Phil.  Slowly, the triggers were pulled.  Dan braced himself for the impact.  But it never came.  Instead, a giant wall of water appeared between the projectiles and themselves.  He watched as the water defied physics and caught all the bullets and darts, not letting even one make through to the other side.  He then looked at the still glowing Phil.  Phil seemingly was looking off at something in the distance.  Phil then yelled, "NOW!" Time sped up to normal as the wall was dropped, along with Dan and Phil from the train.


	4. On the Road Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a feeling my updates are going to become slower after I go back to school in the new year. But I am going to promise now that I will update once a week at the absolute least.

Water surrounded Dan.  Feeling the water, he held his breath for as long as he could as he tried blindly swimming upward.  He ended up having to breathe before he reached the surface.  He gasped, his lungs surprisingly being filled with air instead of water.  Opening his eyes resulted in seeing the sparkling water all around through what seemed like a bubble that surrounded his head.  The surface was a meter above him.  Ripples in the surface made the fractured light move around him.  Everything in the water seemed calm, a nice difference to the train they had just escaped.  It made Dan never want to leave the river.  Except, the water seemed to have other plans.  Slowly, he felt himself being carried by the water up to the surface and safely to the shore just a little bit away from where he landed.  Once he was on the shore, he watched as the water carried an unconscious Phil to rest next to him.  The glowing light from behind Phil's eyelids slowly faded.  His glasses somehow laid perfectly intact next to Phil's body.  Dan had to quickly crawl over to Phil and check his pulse.  Luckily, it was still there.  The steady beat was completely normal.  They were both alive, miraculously.

With Phil sleeping, Dan had taken the initiative to look around the river bank and set up a bit of a camp.  Well, he intended to before he discovered his phone was still working.  The next hour or so was spent with Dan quickly making a fire and then playing some games on his phone.  Only when Phil started to wake up did Dan put down his phone.  Phil wasn't even fully awake when he started thinking,  _Are we dead?  Why am I wet and freezing cold in Hell?  Or Heaven?  Honestly, if Dan made it to Heaven I would be surprised._ Dan shut up his friend up by throwing a stick at him.  "I could have made it to Heaven!  But in reality, we are both alive thanks to you." Dan explained as he kneeled next to Phil, "You have been asleep for over an hour." Slowly, Phil opened his eyes to a slight squint, trying to see.  To Dan, it was now weird to see his eyes not glowing anymore.  Quickly, Dan put Phil's glasses on for him, "Here.  How these aren't broken after all we have gone through today I have no idea."

Phil sat up once he had his glasses on and accessed their surroundings.  Both of them were still wet.  But Dan looks like he had mostly dried off, unlike Phil.  At his feet was the river.  It was slowly flowing in its usual manner, unaffected by their presence at its shore.  There were a few trees around the bank, providing an unwelcome shade to Phil.  Each gust of wind drew a shiver from him.  His friend noticed this and gently grabbed Phil's hand, "Come on, I have a fire going.  Surprisingly, starting a fire with fire fists is a piece of cake!" Phil gave a small laugh as Dan sat him close to the fire.  Next, Dan peeled his potato sack jumper off his body and handed it to Phil, now half naked.  He looked at the jumper confused before looking up at Dan who shrugged, "I don't need it.  This fire thing I think made my blood lava.  My jumper is also dry and warm, and you are shivering.  All logic points to you just accepting the fucking gesture." The statement ended with a smile from Dan.  Phil couldn't help but roll his eyes and quickly grab the jumper.  He pulled it on and smiled at Dan as he took a seat next to Phil.

 _Phil, you are bloody amazing and weird._ Dan thought with a smile.  This made Phil himself turn his head to Dan.  Dan didn't wait for a response before launching into a little speech, "How you saved us on the train.  Your water wall kept us safe as I was hanging off the train and Wrinkle and Cunt were shooting darts and bullets at us.  Then it disappeared and we fell into the river.  Finally, the water, which I am guessing was because of you since it said fuck you to all the known laws of water physics, kept us from drowning and gently carried us back onto the shore." Phil stared at Dan with wide eyes, full of confusion and 'what the fuck' as Dan would describe it.  He then looked at Phil a little worried, "You don't remember any of it?" Phil shook his head in response and looked down, "The last thing I remember was you hanging off the train almost crying and saying how we were gonna die.  I don't remember anything after that."

Dan looked dumbfounded, "How can you not remember it!?  Phil, you literally saved our lives in an epic way that Hollywood would blush in shame at and you are saying you don't remember a fucking second of it!?" He watched as Phil curled up in his layers of sweaters and scooted away.  His eyes focused on the fire that he had gotten closer too.  "Maybe that happened to me last night.  I looked sick, went all water crazy, and then don't remember the whole thing," Phil suggested, a pang of guilt coming through his voice that transferred right over to Dan, "Maybe that's why we are in this mess.  I'm sorry Dan." Before Phil had time to react, Dan stood in front of him and pulled the man up to his feet.  Dan then proclaimed very dramatically, "Where did I say that you were the cause of this Phil?  This isn't all about you Phil so stop being selfish!  Besides, how did we get these powers?  Blaming yourself for not remembering would be like blaming yourself for having to wear glasses.  You are blind as fuck Phil!  Your memory with this thing is also shit apparently!  These are things we need to accept." Phil was laughing by the end of Dan's speech, helping Dan accomplish his goal.  The next statement to come out of him was calmer and came with a softer voice, "Come on Phil, the sun is going to set within the next hour or two and we are currently in the middle of nowhere.  We should get somewhere."

Staring into the fire, Phil reached his hand towards it.  After it was right over the burning fire, he squeezed his hand.  Water quickly came out of the fist similar to squeezing out a sponge.  The water didn't stop dripping until the fire had died and Phil unclenched his fist.  Dan stood, overlooking Phil curiously.  His blue eyes weren't glowing as they had previously when he used the water.  But the water seemed to be much weaker as well, acting like normal water instead.  This got Dan thinking about his own eyes and the connection.   _Phil's eyes didn't glow when he put out the fire.  My eyes just started glowing randomly this morning before stopping.  I don't exactly know if they have been glowing every time I have been using my fire or not.  But then how does that explain this morning?_ Phil interrupted his thoughts, "Personally, I haven't been paying attention to your eyes Dan.  They could have been glowing or they could have not on the train back there.  I was more focused on watching for the river." Dan started to clean up the debris from the fire while he continued thinking.   _The eyes, powers, and memory are all connected.  Now maybe if we could..._ This time, Phil interrupted by invading his thoughts.   _Dan if I got super powerful up on the train and don't remember a thing then passed out, we shouldn't experiment with it again!  I don't think both of us unconscious next to a river would be good._ Of course, Dan didn't listen to Phil and started blazing up anyways.  Wisps of fire started flying around.  Dan's eyes weren't glowing yet as he instructed, "Just don't do it yourself!  But focus on my eyes!  Tell me when they are glowing!" Phil sighed before standing back from Dan and focusing.

The fire gathered into Dan's palms.  As it slowly started growing, he started doing tricks such as juggling the water and throwing it into the water.  Phil watched carefully at Dan's eyes to see them as normal as ever, "Your eyes aren't glowing yet Dan" Dan only nodded in response as he focused.   _Come on you burning fucker, grow hotter.  As much as you can.  Burning.  Hot._   Dan had closed his eyes, causing the fires to start blazing to where all his hands were was bright white hot flames.  Then something else happened that neither of the two was expecting.  The mess of brown curls on Dan's head changed to become a similar white fire.  When Dan opened his eyes again, his eyes were glowing as bright as the sun in the similar red fashion he had seen in the mirror the previous morning.  Phil quickly backed away from him more as he yelled, "Dan your eyes are glowing!  You can stop this now!"  The words  _hot, powerful,_ and  _burning_ where playing from Dan's mind like a track on repeat.  The powerful fire seemed to put him in a trance-like state.  Phil, terrified of the flames burning the whole country down, ran over and shoved Dan quickly into the river.  The fire went out immediately as he hit the water.  A moment later, the normal hair of brown curls, now extra wet again, came free out of the water.

Now completely soaking wet and back to normal, Dan swam out of the river with a huge smile on his face, "THAT WAS AWESOME!  I FELT LIKE I COULD RULE THE WORLD LIKE THAT!" Phil looked a bit more unsure as he cautioned his wet friend, "Dan you could have burned down the whole world if I didn't shove you into the water.  You need to be extremely careful Dan." It appeared, though, as Dan was only half listening as he was more focused on drying all the water from his body and checking his phone.  He even was still looking at his phone as he replied, "There is a major road a little down the river.  We could try to hitchhike from there.  Also, I am probably going to need my jumper back if we are hitchhiking." Phil sighed as he threw the jumper back to Dan.  He slipped it on in a few seconds and then gestured to Phil to follow him, "Come on lets hit the road!"  Phil slightly smiled at him before quietly singing, "On the road again!  Can't wait to get back on the road again!" Dan rolled his eyes before laughing and joining in the silly singing.

Meanwhile, while the two friends set off to find somewhere to go, the two enemies from the train were walking into a dark, barely lit conference room far away from the river.  Across the long wooden table, a voice came out of the shadow, "Where are the subjects?"  Walter, very frustrated and about ready to quit right then and there, slammed his gun case on the table, "They fucking got away with those bloody powers you gave them!  The one just burned all the darts and then when we about got them, the other summoned a fucking wall of water!" Instead of a frustrated or annoyed tone, the shadow voice gave an amused chuckle, "Really now?  A wall of water?" Carl nodded and spoke, "Yes sir.  It was defying gravity and physics.  And he just did it out of nowhere!" The person in the shadows stood up and nodded but remained hidden.  He went over to the back wall of the room and pressed a single button.  The room was finally illuminated by computer monitors that filled the wall.  Four of the monitors were camera feeds.  Two more had Youtube pulled up with one on danisnotonfire and the other on AmazingPhil.  One last monitor had a document pulled up with cryptic shorthand notes that to a normal person would just be a bunch of nonsense.  He scrolled down until he found the heading and finished the notes underneath.

**DAN**

  * ~~~~F-C1
  * Affect-Mild
  * Progress-ME
  * Caution- Intermediate
  * Effects-None



After he was done with that section, he proceeded to the next section.  At this section, the man hummed happily, "Interesting."

**PHIL**

  * W-C2
  * Affect-Not completely discovered
  * Progress-OE
  * Caution-Extreme
  * Effects-Interesting



The two other men watched from the other side of the room, patiently waiting until the man barked at them, "Go and get them now!  If anything, make sure that Phil one is alive." Walter and Carl nodded and rushed out of the door.


	5. Using a Lifeline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took me a bit longer than the others so far. Also as for Dan's family in this chapter, this is not an accurate or true description of them or anything. Purely fictional representations.

The road stretched almost across the entire country it seemed when Dan and Phil finally found it.  Over the western horizon, the sun was settling down for the night.  "So we found a road, now what?" Dan asked, pulling out his phone to check his map only to discover that the battery died.  Phil didn't provide an answer.  Instead, he continued walking into the middle of the currently abandoned road.  Curiously, Dan stays back but questions his friend, "Um Phil?  If you are wanting to give up you should have done it back on the train.  You are just going to get cars to swerve or stop and... oh." He stays silent after he ended up answering his own unasked question.  "Phil, you have no sense of direction," Phil starts quoting, "So promise me if you ever get lost just walk towards a road and stand on it!  That's what my granddad told me when I was little.  This seems like the kind of situation he was talking about." Dan snorted, "Didn't you write that in TABINOF?" His friend nods as he spots the faint glow of headlights in the distance.

Both of them watched as the headlights came closer.  As they did, Dan noticed by the dim light of dusk that he recognizes the car.  "Phil maybe we should wait for a different-" Dan was trying to plead to Phil but it was too late as the car pulls over on the side of the road.  Stepping out of the car from the passenger's side was Dan's mother herself, "DANIEL JAMES HOWELL WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRY!?" Dan groans as he hides his face from his mother, "Hey mum... um... it's a long story." She wasn't impressed with the cop out, "Well both of you better start explaining in the car!  You are lucky we were driving back from your grandmother's!" Mrs. Howell continued to lecture Dan and Phil as they got into the car.  In the car, Dan's father was patiently sitting in the driver's seat, not imputing anything to the situation.  Because of Adrian, Dan's almost 18-year-old brother who was already in the back seat, Phil ended up in the middle seat while Dan sat on the other side.  Once the car was in motion, Dan's mom turns to them and demands, "Now what happened that ended up with you two boys out on the side of the road!"

 _We can tell them the truth, can we?_ Phil glanced at Dan.  He just shook his head slightly,  _No.  Just follow my lead okay Phil?_ Before he was able to question or they were able to actually think up more of a believable story together, Dan laughs and starts explaining to his mom, "It's actually a bit of a funny story.  You see, Phil, some other friends, and I were driving on a bit of a trip to visit some friends we have in Manchester.  Then, the car just suddenly broke down!  Phil then offered to try and find someone to help and dragged me along with him.  When we ended up finding nobody, we tried going back to the car to see we got a bit most lost than expected and we couldn't find our friends.  Plus our phones died so we couldn't call them to come find us.  So we were out wandering the side of the road for hours until dusk when Phil saw the headlights of the car and got out in the middle of the road to get us a ride." Once Dan's sloppily planned out story was finished, Adrian was trying his hardest to contain his laughter as he handed Phil his phone.  Dan's mom kept asking questions to Dan about the story in the background as Phil examined what was on the phone.  Pulled up on Adrian's phone was a tweet from the girl they met earlier that day with a picture of them falling off of the train and into the river with the caption 'WTF DAN AND PHIL FELL OFF THE TRAIN WE ARE ON INTO THE RIVER AND DAN LOOKS LIKE HE IS SHITTING HIMSELF!"  Indeed, in the picture, you did get a good angle of Dan's screaming face.  Luckily, Phil's face couldn't be seen by the camera.  But it was obvious it was them.  "Nice cover story," Adrian sarcastically whispered to Phil after Phil had really looked at the picture, "Then again, you guys would be dead if our mum saw this picture.  But I expect you guys to tell me the truth when we get home."

The other people in the car weren't paying attention to Phil and Adrian's conversation.  Dan was actually in the middle of talking about their friends he had made up on the fly for his mother when Phil imputed a thought to him,  _Um Dan?  Remember when you said back on the train as a joke 'Well at least we will have witnesses' because you saw those two subscribers get on?_ Dan sneaks a quick glance at him as Mrs. Howell was explaining what you should do when broke down on the side of the road.   _Oh god, why are you bringing that up?_ Phil quickly tossed the phone with the picture over to Dan to examine.  After a moment of looking at the picture, he just shook his head,  _I am not even surprised at this point._  "What you boys looking at?" Mr. Howell asked.  Before either Dan or Phil could respond, Adrian cut in, "I was letting them use my phone to text their friends." As the two adults in the front accept the lie, Dan and Phil relax.  The conversation for the rest of the ride to the Howell household was small, short and sweet.

Once they all had unloaded from the car, Adrian dragged his brother upstairs, "I wanna show Dan and Phil my new video games since they are here for the night!" There was a quiet acknowledgment from Mr. and Mrs. Howell before the three hid in the teenager's room.  Phil was the first speaking, "Okay so first things first Dan we should maybe contact that girl about the picture."  Adrian shook his head in disagreement, "Nope!  First things first you guys are explaining to me what the fuck is going on and why you guys can't tell mum or dad about why you two were jumping off a fucking train!"  After that, silent tension spread through the room.   _He is your brother._ Phil thought, looking at Dan.  _You should be the one to explain or do something here._ Dan ran a hand through his curly hair and sighed before thinking,  _Well you were the one who suggested jumping off the bloody train.  Plus I'm too tired to think up something._ He addresses his brother, "Adrian, you don't need to know okay?  Phil and I just need to rest for the night.  We will be okay alright bro?" Adrian rolled his eyes annoyed before he retaliated, "I'm just really curious and this seems really interesting.  Besides, I might be able to help you guys.  You never know.  A teenager just finished secondary school.  On his gap year.  Basically all the free time in the world!  I can do some things." Dan mimics his brother's attitude while expressing, "The only way he could help us is if he could get our memories of what happened that got us into this mess back.  Let's just tell him we did it for a video and go to sleep alright Phil." The other two humans in the room looked at Dan until he realized what he accidentally said out loud and groaned, "See I need hibernation.  I thought that was just in our heads." With a look of demanding from the teenager, Phil sighed and proceeded to explain everything that has happened that day to Adrian.

 After Phil had finished explaining, Adrian looked at the two expectantly, "So, are you two actually going to show me your powers?" Dan shakes his head, "Yeah I rather not burn the house down.  I like mum and dad and this house has a lot of good memories." His brother just shakes his head and goes over to his desk, "Fine.  Not gonna believe you then!"  Not even a moment later, the teen was put through a shower by Phil.  Dan laughs as he gets a look of extreme annoyance.  "So Adrian," Phil says as he stops the water, "Believe us now?" Adrian just rolled his eyes before opening a drawer in his desk.  After a bit of digging, he pulls out two fake police badges with window sleeves for a portrait picture.  One had a picture of Adrian while the other had a picture of some girl neither of the other two recognized.  Those pictures were pulled out as he started explaining, "Went to a Halloween party last year and my friend and I went as a pair of cops.  Managed to find these legit-looking badges on Ebay.  Go to where ever you two went last night pretending you are undercover cops.  Gonna need a good disguise as well though.  And pictures to go in these."

Dan and Phil looked at Adrian in shock.  Out of the two, Dan spoke first, "Okay, you really think we would be able to do that?  If we get caught, we would then not only be on the run from whoever the fuck those suited idiots are but by the government!  Impersonating law enforcement is illegal you know!  We could get thrown in jail for at least 6 months, a fine of like 5,000 pounds or something, or both!" Both of the other pairs of eyes then stared at Dan, confused as to how he knew that.  He explains, "That's one of the few things I remember in my short time from uni now can we get back to an alternate plan!"  Phil looked around the room before going to the closet.  Browsing through it, he pulled out a few clothing items that would fit him and Dan but they would never wear.  He also managed to find a few hats, "Let's work on the disguises!"  Dan looks at his friend in disbelief,  _Phil, you really have gone insane huh?_ He gives Dan a small smile,  _It's the best and only option or plan we have right now.  I say let's go for it.  Now come try this on!_ Phil throws a bra he found at the bottom of the closet.  Dan yells while the other two laughing in the background, "ADRIAN WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE A BRA IN YOUR CLOSET!" Adrian is still laughing, "Some of mum's laundry must have got mixed up in mine and neither of us noticed!"

Around one in the morning, the three finally finished the disguises and fake badges.  Phil was dressed in a long black trench coat to hide his normal clothes while his hair was slicked back.  They managed to find a package of fake brown contacts that he also wore underneath his glasses.  Dan, on the other hand, was wearing a long black hair wig with sunglasses.  His jumper was retired into an old backpack they found as instead, Dan wore a plain black tee with the sock filled bra on underneath.  His normal shoes were traded out for their mom's black dress shoes they managed to find by the front door.  Over his shirt was a jean jacket.  "This is a horrid idea," Dan complains as he adjusts his fake boobs, "Why did you even have all these clothes in your closet in the first place Adrian?" Adrian shrugs as he looks for his car keys, "Some of it I think some of my friends left after various events.  The women stuff is obviously mum's, although that bra is clean I can promise you that bro.  But, luckily, you two look nothing like yourselves.  If someone looked super close at Phil, they might have a tiny clue but other than that, you two should be good."  Phil looked over at Dan and smiled, "Well hello Kate!" He received a glare in return as Dan sarcastically suggested, "Well hello then Richard!  Or maybe Dick for short eh?"  Phil snorts, "You wish!" Their fake name argument was cut short by a jingle of car keys, "Come on.  I have to get you guys to London and then return before mum and dad wake up.  I'll cover why you guys are gone when I get back." The three boys proceeded to quietly sneak out and leave the house.

The road leading to London was almost abandoned at the extremely early hours of the morning.  Behind the wheel, Adrian sped up to over the speed limit to get to there and back before the night was through.  Squeezing the seat behind him and Phil's hand, Dan nervously talked to his brother, "You don't have to go this fast.  We can slow down a bit!" Phil, with a hand in pain, looked at him, "Dan calm down it will be okay.  Just think, who do you rather trust driving?  Adrian or myself?" Reluctantly, Dan calmed down at the point that had been made.  They both know Phil probably would have already killed them if he was behind the wheel.  For the most part, they were silent.  For Dan and Phil, the silence was mentally broken pretty quickly.   _Phil, what if we can't do this?  What if this is just a dead end?  What if this is meaningless?_ Dan's worried thoughts filled both of their minds.  Phil didn't look at Dan as he interrupted the thoughts,  _Dan.  We have to just try and go with this, alright?_ Then the ending song from Yuri on Ice, "You Only Live Once," started playing through both of their minds thanks to Phil.  This resulted in receiving a smack from Dan and Adrian looking at them, "What are you two doing?"  "EYES ON THE ROAD YOU IDIOT!" Dan commanded his little brother.

A little less than an hour on the road got them into London around 2:30 AM.  Not having a clue where he was going, Adrian started driving around randomly for a bit before Phil spoke up, "Um... where are we going?" The driver looks at the two passengers and shrugs, "I was waiting for one of you two to tell me where to go." Dan groaned and fell back onto the seat.  His fake boobs were starting to get really uncomfortable and the wig was also a bit itchy.   _How do girls wear bras literally all the time?  Some of it is poking into my back!_ Dan thought annoyed but proceeds to give directions to Adrian, "We need to go to the bar we went to New Year's Eve.  I think we need to go down about three blocks and take a right to get there." He nodded and started to drive as instructed.  After about 30 minutes of wrong driving and different directions, they finally made it to the bar.  With how late it was, the bar was closed.  All of them looked around the area a bit before Phil points to a building about a block away from the bar, "There is a hotel down there.  We can stay there for a bit and then when the bar opens again Dan and I can go investigate.  That way Adrian can get back to Reading." Dan nods in agreement, "Great then let me just take this stuff off!" His strip show gets stopped short by both of the others.  Adrian makes a point, "You have to play your characters there as well.  That's what undercover cops would do.  Plus this will give Dan practice on acting like a girl although he doesn't need it that much!" Dan frowns at the smirk that was given with the last sentence, "You know if I wanted bullied like this I would have just stayed with you guys back in Reading instead of agreeing to this."  Phil rolled his eyes are the brotherly bickering before beckoning Dan out of the car with him.  "Thanks Adrian!" Phil exclaimed, "We couldn't have done this without you!  Drive home safely now!" Before a sarcastic remark from either brother could be said, Phil closes the door and waves him off.   _We are seriously going into the hotel like this?_ Dan thought, straightening out his boobs again.

Standing cowardly, the small hotel seemed small and abandoned.  It could be easily mistaken as closed down if it weren't the glowing neon sign that said otherwise.  Inside, it didn't look much better.  Nothing in the room was welcoming like a hotel lobby should be.  The only plus the lobby had going for it was that it was brightly lit.  But the light wasn't a warm welcoming glow.  It was the white threatening light usually imagined to be in evil dystopian government military labs.  A shade of paint that could only be described as the creation of mixing urine yellow with puke green coated the walls, adding to the uneasy atmosphere.  All of the torn up furniture looks like it's been there since the 70's.  Behind the shabby front desk, a girl who seemed only in her early 20's was asleep with a bunch of papers and a laptop next to her.

With quiet caution, Dan and Phil started walking towards the front desk.   _Thanks for the great hotel find Phil!_ Dan shot a glance at his best friend.  Phil's elbow jabbed at his arm,  _Like you could find better.  And since I found the place, I feel like you should check us in Dan!_ Dan looks at Phil's smirking face before sighing and clearing his throat, "Excuse me, miss?" Phil was almost laughing when Dan spoke.  The voice he was speaking in was very similar to what he had used for Toriel in their Undertale playthrough, only a little less high pitched.  Holding back a glare at Phil, Dan looked as the girl behind the desk quickly woke up.  On her shirt was a name tag that read 'Liz.'  She examined Dan up and down, looking slightly disturbed.  "How may I help you?" Liz's question sounded more tired and confused than annoyed.  To avoid Dan further embarrassment as she was conscious, Phil took over in a slightly different pitch than his normal voice, "We would like a room."

Still looking slightly disturbed, Liz nodded and started typing on the laptop.  She doesn't even look up at them as she asks for their names.  "Kate Smith and Richard Smith," Dan answered, his fake women voice breaking a bit at the end.  This caused the girl to look back and forth at the two.  Nervously, they glance at each other before looking back at the girl.   _What if she is secretly working for the suit people and sees through our disguises?_ Phil thought.  Dan mentally answered,  _Well if she does see through our disguises, I just hope she doesn't ask about my boobs._ The two were too busy expressing their worries to one another, they didn't hear Liz mumble, "Wow could have done much better Richard." She clears her throat so the "couple" were listening and holds up a key to room 17, "Look 50 pounds for the rest of tonight and tomorrow." Dan quickly pulls out his wallet and pays for it while Phil grabs the key.  They barely say thank you before they are walking off to their room.

The actual rooms were only slightly nicer than the lobby.  Instead of the bright white lights and disgusting walls, the lights were dim with the walls covered in dark red paint.  Only one window was in the room and it stared out into an alleyway.  There was no TV, the bathroom door was basically broken, and the one queen size bed in the room wasn't made well.  At this point, neither Dan nor Phil could care in the least.  "Phil get this bra off of me!" Dan complained as he threw the wig and shirt off.  Phil laughs, "You an independent strong woman why can't you do it yourself!" He did end up going behind Dan and undoing the clips for him.  He throws the bra to the ground.  "Why do I have to be a stereotypical cop woman?" Dan grumbles as he strips down to his boxers for bed, "Like its 2017!  Fuck gender norms and stereotypes! I could be a genderqueer cop who likes their long black hair!  Hell, I could still be a guy with long hair!  Why do I have boobs with this disguise?" Phil groans as he gets ready for bed himself, "Look Dan, as much as you know I am all for the whole goodbye gender standards and let people be, our purpose with these disguises it to draw less attention to ourselves and to most people, a guy with long hair or someone who is genderqueer is not normal.  We wouldn't be able to blend in.  So you are dealing with the boobs Kate!" Dan rolled his eyes sighing before climbing into the bed.  Phil proceeded to to the same on the opposite side.  Neither talked as sleep instantly consumed them.


	6. Gaining the Pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. With school, I have been busier than normal. Also, just a warning that this chapter does have those death/existential thoughts I tagged. But they are over within the first half of the chapter! I really do hope you enjoy this chapter and I promise the next chapter will get out faster.

Banging and creaking echoed through the hotel around noon the next day.  Dan immediately woke up to these noises.  Right beside him, Phil seemed to be sleeping peacefully through the ruckus.  Phil's black hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions as his glasses that he had forgotten to remove the night before were basically falling off of his face.  Both of them were in desperate needs for showers.  Dan smiles as he takes Phil's glasses and puts them on the side table.  Then he gets up, heading towards the bathroom for a shower.

Thankfully, compared to the rest of the hotel, the shower seemed very decent and clean.  As he usually would, Dan turns the showers knobs so the water that came out was on the hotter side.  This turns out to be a mistake on his part.  Combining his higher than average body heat and the higher than probably very healthy water heat, Dan feels like he is in a desert and about to die because of the heat.  As quick as he could, he turns the knob to the coldest the water could possibly be.  Dan instantly relaxed.  Freezing cold water droplets sizzled, almost boiling away when they hit skin.  Dan started to scrub away the dirt and grime from himself as he thinks.  Phil was still asleep so he made the assumption that Phil could not hear his thoughts whilst he was asleep.  It was bittersweet because Dan had a lot to think about on his own.

_What does all of this even mean?  What if we are like this forever?  I don't want to be like this forever.  What does this even mean in the grand scheme of things?  All of this is pointless anyway.  Isn't it?  What if the universe caused this?  Can the universe cause this?  What is this universe?  Once I am dead with this thing, I'm dead.  I'm going to die because of this.  Dan Howell dies at age 25 because he set himself on fire.  Ironic.  But does it mean anything in the universe?  Probably not..._

Dan closed his eyes while leaning back onto the shower wall before he collapses on it.  In the small part in the back of his brain, he realizes he can't go crazy and question the universe and everything at this moment.  No existential crisis would be helpful during this situation.  Luckily, Dan's thoughts started to subside as he started to see images behind his closed eyes.  It was like he was vividly day dreaming.  Around him seemed to be the bar from down the block where this started.  Behind him seemed to be a wall with the wall opposite him having the 2 labeled doors of bathrooms.  Before Dan could process all he was seeing, a woman with long brown hair wearing a black knee length dress with bright red purse and shoes was standing in front of him.  Out of her purse, she pulls a gun and jabs it into his stomach.   _Listen to me and take this or your life and the lives of your friends over there are over._ The women's voice was faint and hard to decipher completely.  Her accent seemed American from what Dan could hear.   _W-Whatever just don't hurt me or them!_ The quivering voice wasn't that of Dan, but of Phil.  "This is Phil's dream," Dan concluded to himself, keeping his eyes shut tight to see what happens next.

Dream blonde baddy woman opened the hand without the gun to reveal two small blue pills.   _Now you are going to take these.  We saw you._ The woman smirks evilly.  Neither of them going a word of protest in as she shoves the pills into their mouth.  After swallowing, they fall back.  The dream changes scenes as they are consumed by water.  Dan is reminded of when they jumped into the river, the peaceful scene contrasting heavily to the drama of the previous scene.  Light shining from the surface of the water beckons them up.  Phil swims up with Dan still there watching with him.  At the surface, they seem to come up through the hatch from the train.  On the roof of the train was Dan, only in dream form.  Dream Dan smiles and holds his hand out for them.  The real Dan, watching from the shower because of his closed eyes, feels a bit weird as Phil climbs up onto the train roof with the dream version of himself.

Once they were on the roof, Dream Dan hugs Phil.  "Wow Phil's brain," Dan mutters to himself as he watches, "If you are going to put me in his dreams at least get me right.  I would not dramatically hug Phil on the roof of a train!"  The dream continues.   _Dan, it will be okay.  Everything will be okay as long as we stick together and not get ourselves killed._ Phil speaks as he lets go of the dream being.  Fake Dan smiles as he wipes a few tears away while real Dan is trying not to cringe while keeping his eyes closed still.   _Phil, I have to tell you something before we get off the train.  I-_  Before Dream Dan was able to finish, there was a gunshot followed by his eyes going wide.  Then he went up in flames and smoke.  Once the fire had died down, they could see that Walter and Carl were standing on the other side of the train roof with Walter holding a smirking gun.  Phil's screams echoed through the dream as Dan opens his eyes.

Back in the reality of the shower, Dan quickly shut the water off and grabs a towel to wrap around his waist.  He runs back into the hotel room, jumping onto the bed with a single leap.  Phil look restless in his sleep.  He was startled awake, however, when Dan proceeded to vigorously shake him awake.  "W-What?  Dan, what are you doing?" Phil groans, looking towards the blurry face of his friend.  Unconsciously taking a tactic from Phil's dream, Dan quickly hugs his companion and asks, "Are you okay?"  Phil looks at him while they are hugging.  Then his dream smashes back into his memory as if it were a wrecking ball.  "You saw my dream didn't you Dan?" He quietly asks as he pulls away from Dan.

Looking slightly confused, Dan questions his friend, "Yeah, how did you know that Phil?"  Standing up and digging through the few clothes they had, Phil proceeds to explain, "I woke up around 9 this morning.  You were still sleeping and I was still tired so I didn't see the point in waking up yet.  I did quickly take out those contacts so I didn't kill my eyes before closing them again.  But when I closed my eyes I saw I was in a dream where we were riding on a huge Shiba Inu through what seemed to be a forest towards a castle protected by Sans from Undertale.  And they you kept freaking out because you couldn't get past Sans into the castle of.... um... some sort of food I can't remember exactly.  And I think that's when I fell asleep!" Before Dan was able to defend his own dream, his fake bra boobs landed onto his head.  Various other items such as hair gel, clothes, and a wig came flying towards Dan.  "The bar should be open within the next hour or so," Phil says as he is pulling some clothes on, "I need you to get my hair slicked back."

Everything was in place for the disguises except for their hair and Phil's colored contacts.  "Sit here," Dan orders to Phil as he points to the floor, "I'll slick back your hair quick for you."  Phil raises an eyebrow at his friend as he sits on the ground next to the bed.  Sitting on the edge of the bed above him was Dan.  He carefully starts to work the comb they packed in the backpack through the mess of black bed head.  Phil winces as the comb smacked into a difficult tangle, almost ripping it from his skull all together, "Careful!  Don't pull all my hair out!" Dan complains, "I'm not the one who like never combs his hair!  Deal with it." The comb starts to glide through as if it were flying through the sky.  Proudly, Dan announces, "Besides, all the tangles seem to be gone!  Now I just need to gel your hair back.  As I do so I feel like we should establish our official plan." Phil hums quietly in agreement.  Yet, in his mind a single thought comes through,  _This plan is going to go wrong somewhere._

"Look it probably will but it will go less wrong than if we go in all Dan and Phil Games style where we have no idea what we are doing!" Dan explains as he opens the gel bottle.  The cool hair gel sends a shiver through Phil before getting used to it.  His eyes fall closed as Dan does his hair and talks, "When we get in there, I will do all the talking.  Let's face it Phil, you are a pretty shit liar and also the clumsiest human being alive.  That combined with your acting ability means that you would probably get us arrested within 3 minutes of walking through the door.  So when we walk in, just follow my lead alright?"  Phil rolls his eyes and sarcastically thinks, well aware that Dan can hear his thought,  _Yes the socially awkward teddy bear who has trouble making small talk with the till workers as he buys groceries is going to lead us to receiving access to this bar's surveillance video that they probably keep protected._  Dan glares the person sitting on the floor before smacking him with one of the hotel pillows, "Shut up you dildo!  Like you can actually confidently say you can do better!"

Phil laughs loudly and rises from the hard hotel floor, "I'm not saying I can!  But you have admitted yourself that you are awkward in every way possible!"  Not wanting to admit Phil was correct, Dan grabs his wig and commands, "Go put your contacts on!  You still look too much like Phil!"  Still laughing, Phil follows the direction and leaves to the bathroom.  But not before he hears Dan think,  _Why does he know me so well and is always right?_ Phil accepted this as the small victory of their debate and smiles to himself.

Half an hour later, Phil was checking them out of the old hotel and returning their key.  Dan remained standing behind him, nervously surveying the area as to not get any surprises from the furious mob that wanted their heads.  Even though they were in disguise, Dan still felt vulnerable as if they were only little kids playing dress up with jewelry and a few big baggy shirts.   _They are going to see it's me._ Dan worries in the almost quiet lobby,  _Why are we doing this?  Why don't we give up?_ A gentle tug at his hand quickly tried to comfort him.  Phil's voice rang through their heads,  _Dan, we are doing this because we can.  We have to figure out what is going on so we can live our life.  We aren't meant to die and give up yet.  If we were, both you and I know that the universe would have had a million chances to kill us off already.  This isn't our first escaping death scenario, just one that wasn't over within a few minutes._ Phil finished with the man behind the check in counter before leading them both towards the door.  A shadow that was blindly following, Dan couldn't help but stare at him.  Only one thing managed to establish itself into soundwaves as they exit the building, "Why have you never said things like that before?"

Freezing winter winds blows around them as they walk.  Grey clouds overhead threaten snow to all of London.  It provides contrast as Phil slows his pace and blush brushes his face, "What are you talking about?  Why don't I express every thought verbally?  Well like everybody, I don't want everyone to know everything I'm thinking."  "That seemed deeper and more serious than what you usually say," Dan explains quietly, his words barely forming into a cloud from his mouth, "Phil I have known you for 8 years now.  I just never thought you were someone who could think or say something like that." Their hands are detached and Phil quickly hides them away in his pockets.  He waits until they had walked all the way down to the bar before rushing his answer out, "Thoughts are different than words Dan."  Neither of them had time to get a thought in before Phil enters the bar.

Inside, the lighting was dim with most of it coming from the front windows.  The walls were painted a dark coffee brown with pictures, TVs, and other various items hanging from them.  A spot in the middle of the tables was all cleared, presumably back from New Years.  Diagonally from the entrance and on the back wall was a hallway that led to the restrooms.  Dan felt a bit of a chill run down his spine as it looked just like the one from Phil's dream.  Phil seemingly was unaffected as he starts walking over to the bar.  A few patrons were there sat at various tables, ignoring the two newcomers who had just entered.  The bar was made of a dark stained wood with a smooth granite top.  Only 2 stools were filled with what looked like to be regulars.  As Dan and Phil sat down at the bar, the bartender ended his conversation with one of the regulars and walks over.  "What can I help you two with today?" The tone of the bartender's voice seemed very friendly surprisingly.  Dan glances over at Phil nervously before facing the bartender and answering, "We actually would like to ask you a few questions." Instead of the basically Toriel voice he used the previous night, he decided to used the voice he would when playing Becky in videos.  A look of confusion came across the man's face, "Why?  Who are you two?"

Before Dan was able to continue, Phil took the lead and pulls out his phone and fake badge.  Using a deeper pitched voice than usual, Phil shows the man the badge and picture of all of them from New Year's Eve and explained, "We are investigators.  These people were reported missing from multiple sources and the last place they were all seen was this bar two nights ago." Internally, Dan relaxes as the bartender nods, believing their act, "Okay.  Well, I wasn't working New Year's Eve but I can show you guys some of the surveillance tapes if that would help you guys out.  What you think happened to them?" Dan and Phil share a quick, panicked glance as the question is asked.   _What do we do!?_ __Phil thinks before Dan speaks, "Um... we think we are onto a kidnapping case.  Some eyewitnesses we spoke to said they have seen two distinct men in suits follow them.  If they were here as well two nights ago then we really have a lead." The bartender isn't as quick to accept this lie but nods after a moment of thought, "Alright, follow me.  The tapes are in the back here." Dan and Phil silently celebrate as they follow the bartender, unaware of the two familiar men in suits who had just entered the bar.


	7. Apart

The three men travel down a short hallway behind the actual bar.  This hallway wasn't as up kept as the rest of the building with paint chipping from the white walls.  Stains of various colors covered the parts that weren't peeling.  At the end of the hallway was a door that led into an office.  Papers and files littered the floor.  A pathway through the papers to a desk was cleared away.  Resting upon the desk was 3 monitors, all with live camera feed coming through them.  Two of the cameras were showing color while the third from the restroom hallway was in black and white.  "We have 3 cameras with a monitor for each." The bartender explains as he goes to the computers and switches from the live feed to the footage from New Year's Eve, "As you can see we kinda need to update that one in that hallway.  But it's still recording decently so we aren't going to get a new one until it finally breaks.  But considering most bars don't bother to even install cameras, I feel like we are okay."  Dan and Phil look over at each other and smile slightly, glad they stuck a bit of gold.  "It's just a video player so you can fast forward to the part you need and such.  I have to go continue out at the bar.  I will come see if you need any help or have any more questions in a bit." The smile on the bartender's face strikes a slight suspicious chord within Dan.  It seems too suspicious he was all willing like this.  But neither of them got a chance to question it before the bartender left them in the office alone.

"Well, we got a lot of hours of video to look through." Phil sighs as he sits in the almost broken chair at the desk.  Dan stays standing and leans over to look at the monitors, "Okay, you start searching that one that's pointed at the entrance and tables while I look over this one at the bar.  Let's try to find the point where we got there." After a silent nod in agreement, the two quickly start to work.  Considering the footage started from the time the bar opened at 2 in the afternoon, Dan and Phil had to fast forward through about 8 hours of footage until Phil yelped in excitement, "There we are!  We entered the bar at around 9:50." Dan looks to the other screen and sure enough, all six of them are entering the bar.  Marzia and Felix were leading the group with Dan and Phil lagging at the back.  "So we were there for at least 2 or 3 hours" Dan figured as he keeps a close eye on the video feed.  Both of their eyes are on the video of themselves.  They watch and fast forward in small occasional bits until Dan finds something interesting around 11:30 at night. 

"That woman is the same one from you dream Phil," Dan whispered with an accusing finger pointing to the screen.  Just entering the door to the bar is the familiar brunette with a tall suited man escorting her.  He was taller than her by at least 3 inches with blond Draco Malfoy hair.  His skin was slightly tanned, but not enough to make his hair look like a sore thumb. It actually served to compliment his looks.  "Well, she has a hot boyfriend!" Dan expresses with a whistle earning a smack from the male next to him, "Dan!  We aren't looking at how attractive they are they are evil!" Their attention is dragged away from debating the suspects attractiveness by them sitting at the table right next to the group of Youtubers, who were about to have a shot drinking race between PJ and Dan.  Phil watches the video with extra attention, each little detail a delicate puzzle piece for their memory.

_Dan stares down PJ whilst Phil stands watching.  Felix holds his phone up as pronounced as a checkered flag.  "Three... two... one... GO!" PJ and Dan start quickly trying to finish their shots before the other.  Behind them, a woman watched, amused and intrigued by the game.  Phil turns to catch a glimpse of her while Dan was downing his second shot.  With a wink, she smiles at Phil and says something.  Her American accent stood out and sent creepy chills down his spine.  That's when Dan lost his grip on the fifth shot, spilling it all over himself._

"Hello Phil..." Phil muttered as he watches the aftermath of the shot race.  On the screen, PJ was jumping triumphantly while Dan was laughing and dragging Phil with him to the restroom.  "What?" Dan questions Phil as he brushes some of the wig hair out of the way, switching his focus to the hallway camera.  Looking at him, Phil explains, "That's what the lady said to me then.  I remember that now.  Never got the chance to question how she knew my name because of your clumsiness with the shot." Dan rolls his eyes, "Oh you would have spilled on the first shot!  But anyway, that's good you remember that now.  Hopefully, some more memory will come back."  Dan continues to watch the video of the dark hallway as the version of themselves on the video disappeared into the men's restroom.  Deciding the woman was more important, Phil's attention stays glued to the same video feed and woman.  The rest of their friends were laughing and having fun still while cleaning up a tiny bit from their shot race.  A waiter comes over with some drinks the group must have ordered.  This is when Phil gasps, the memory slamming back into place.

_"Dan next time you have to actually keep a hold of the shot glass!" Phil laughs as he helps his friend clean up in the dirty bar bathroom.  The shot was all over his white moth shirt, starting to leave a bit of a stain.  Dan had wiped off the little bit of alcohol that had gotten on his face before helping try to lightly dab the stain away.  He lets out a groan before quietly complaining, "I was winning too!  Didn't you see how I was one shot ahead of PJ?" Phil shakes his head as the paper towel he was using flew into the trash.  The vision and words of the mysterious woman echo through Phil's quiet mind.  He proceeds to try to explain this to his friend, "There was a woman behind me who knew my name and said hello."  A slightly tipsy Dan smiled and shoved Phil lightly, "Lucky bastard!  She's totally hitting on you!  You need to go find her!" Phil could only laugh along with Dan, despite the uneasy feeling still swirling in his stomach.  "Come on," Dan motions for Phil to follow, "I hope the drinks we ordered came while we were in here!  Then I will fulfill my best friendly duty of being you wingman to this lady!" The duo left the restroom with Phil reluctantly following.  Before Dan could rush back to the table, he was pulled back.  Dan's back was turned towards the table with Phil facing his front.  "Dan, listen to me," Phil tries to shove his logic into Dan's brain, "the woman is a stranger and I am not wanting you to play wing..." His words died as he sees the woman by the table.  As Dan was hoping, their drinks were waiting.  But Phil's drink currently had a blue capsule dissolving into it, placed there by the same women.  His body froze as he watches the woman walk away from the table, meeting up again with a tall blonde man.  Dan looks at Phil confused as he questions him, "Phil?  What's wrong?  What are you seeing?" He turns around to look at the table before smiling, the blue capsule was completely dissolved now, "Oh nice our drinks!"_

Dan is distracted from the video going on in the screens because of Phil's gasp.  "Phil?  What's..." Dan starts to question yet Phil cuts him off, eye unmoving from the screen, "wrong.  What are you seeing?  You just said the exact same thing that night.  The blue capsule in my drink.  She must have put one in all our drinks.  I just caught mine." Dan, still highly confused, rewinds the tape a few minutes to right after they left for the restroom and focuses on the table.  Sure enough, the evil man and woman come over.  The man distracts the four other friends that remain at the table while the woman slips a brightly colored capsule into each of the drinks.  Felix's was orange, Marzia's was yellow, Louise's was green, PJ's was purple, and Dan's was red.  All of them dissolved almost instantly.  As the woman adds the blue capsule to Phil's drink, Dan switches to look at the black and white hallway camera.  While the detail was extremely diminished through the camera, he could still tell Phil freezes the moment the capsule hits the doomed liquid.  "You saw her drug our drinks." Dan points out the obvious quietly as both of them focus back onto the table camera.  On the video, when the duo returned to the table, Dan immediately starts enjoying his drink while Phil doesn't even touch his.  Back in the security office, Dan pauses the video and turns to his friend, "You didn't even tell me about my drink."  Phil frowns and defends himself, "I only saw the woman put the thing in my drink okay?  Considering she said hello earlier and then I see her drug my drink, do you think the thought of 'Oh she probably drugged Dan too' popped into my head?" Dan sighs and nods, "Sorry.  Anyways, whatever they put in the drinks is what I suspect made us WaterBoy and Flamehead.  Do you think this could all be a major LSD trip?" Phil laughs and shakes his head, "I wish.  But considering I can still do this," he proceeds to make a ball of water in the palm of his hand and float it around, "and both of us are seeing it and can interact with it," Dan takes this cue to touch the water ball, making it pop and get him all wet, to the amusement of Phil as he concludes, "Then this isn't just some weird dream or hallucination." Dan agrees and uses a small fire to dry himself off.

With the video unpaused, they watch as the Dan on the video tries to get Phil to drink his drink, even taking a sip himself against Phil's obvious protests.  Like a hawk, Phil watched over Dan until it was a minute til midnight.  Everyone except Phil was counting down to the new year.  "I can tell you are nervous and something was bothering you," Dan says as he examines his own body language and behavior in the video, "I keep looking at you and I can tell by the way my mouth is shaped that I am more mumbling..." he falls silent as it turns midnight in the video.  Like other couples through the bar, Dan grabs Phil and kisses him making the duo watching the forgotten celebration blush.  Phil shyly looks away from the screen and at the man next to him, "You have an explanation for that?" Dan just blushes more and shrugs, "My best guess, I saw you nervous and on edge, I was a little drunk, and kissing at midnight seemed like the option to distract you I guess!" In the end, both of them ended up laughing, almost missing the part of the video where Phil is getting dragged to the hallway.  They stop laughing when Dan notices that starting to happen.  "Phil, you need to do your magic," Dan explains, "You have remembered various parts of the night in detail but this is like something important." Watching the video, Phil tries his hardest to remember.  "Come on Phil!" Dan says while trying to decipher what was actually happening in the video.  The memory then clicked into place.

_Dazed and distracted by his midnight kiss, Phil almost forgot about the woman who seemed out to get him and how Dan could possibly fall over at any second.  But he was quickly reminded when a cold metal hit the side of his waist and a slightly familiar American female voice ran down his spine, "Come on Phil." He had no choice.  At gunpoint, he was being quietly lead away from the celebrating party of people and to the abandoned bathroom hall.  Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, only stopped by the petrifying fear that surrounded the woman.  Once they were in the hall, away from everyone, the gun was moved to the center of his stomach.  His back was trapped, pushed back against the wall.  Out of the hand not holding the gun, the blue capsules rested peacefully, "Take these or you and your friend over there are going to get hurt." Her cold green stare makes Phil want to fall out of the existence it belongs in.  "No... don't hurt me or them please..." Phil stutters through his words as he sneaks a glance over at the table where the rest of his friends were happily.  She lets out a hearty laugh, "No I won't hurt all of them because of you.  Just the one you care about the most." As if planned, she points the gun directly at Dan's unsuspecting back.  "No!" Phil tried to scream but was muffled by a hand and two capsules falling into his mouth.  The woman smirks and puts the gun away, "Tell what happened and I promise both of you are going to get hurt." She then dissolves into the crowd of people.  Phil couldn't do anything but stand there, pale and nauseous as he sees Dan come running towards him.  
_

"I'm sorry Phil I didn't see you." Dan apologizes as he fast-forwards through the rest of the night on the cameras.  Phil looks at Dan slightly confused before Dan continues, "I closed my eyes once you got that blank stare.  The dream thing works when you are vividly remembering stuff apparently.  But some of the things were different from your dream you had this morning."  The next few minutes of the videos go quickly with Dan and Phil quickly leaving the bar after the hallway incident at the request of Phil.  Before any further action could be done with this new information, the bartender bursts in and checks up on the disguised pair, "Did you two find any use of the tapes?" Seeing as Phil was still processing the newly realized memories, Dan took over with the talking in his feminine voice, "Yes very helpful actually.  We got all we needed from here.  As we have a busy rest of the day ahead of us, my partner and I should get going." The bartender nods before gesturing back towards the main bar, "I think you might wanna go talk to the two men that came into the bar.  They are looking for two of those suspects you two are looking for.  Said they were criminals in hiding actually.  But they don't have badges so I didn't say anything." Dan and Phil turn to each other with a panicked look before Phil quickly asks, "Um... well actually is there a back entrance we can exit from?  You can tell the two to go outside and we will meet them out there.  We wouldn't want to cause more trouble for your establishment here."  Dan nods greatly in agreement, trying not to look like he was panicking.  A look of suspicion came across the bartenders face.  Sweat rolls down the back of the YouTuber's necks until the bartender directed them, "Take this door perpendicular to the office door and that leads out to the alley beside the building." A rushed wave of thanks was given before Dan and Phil zoom out of the bar.

In the quiet alleyway, Dan pants as he tries to think what they had learned.   _Capsules to powers... Lady threatening Phil... Suited guys still after us... why?  Why?_  As if Phil couldn't hear his thoughts already, Dan starts expressing them out into the open world with extreme frustration, "What the hell are we doing!?  How the fuck they find us so fast!?"  Before Phil is given a chance to input his thoughts, Dan's feelings start exploding as his frustration grows, "What even is all of this?  We have no clue what any of this is about even after watching those videos!  Phil, don't even try to deny it!" Phil blinks at him with wide eyes, slightly surprised at the sudden outburst.  He then closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before calmly replying, "Dan it will be okay.  Look we just need to figure out..." The other's flaming voice interrupts with a crescendo as more feelings spill out into the open world, "What is special about us!?  WHY!?  I don't understand it!  I just want to live a peaceful life of scrolling on the internet all day!  But no we are spending this year and possibly the rest of our meaningless lives running from these fuckers who decided to fuck with us because we are fucking idiots who live on the internet the whole day!"

Out of anger of the whole situation, flames start flowing from Dan's clenched fists.  Phil gets scared and a little frustrated himself as he is trying to de-escalate the situation, "Dan just calm down.  Look we have done a lot and overcome a bunch of stuff together can you try to calm down and think of something?"  At every calm down spoken, Dan ended up getting more pissed.  With the only other outlet for his feelings being the cause of the second great fire of London, Dan screams at his friend, "Why do I have to figure out something!?  You are the older one here!  Why do I have to carry all our weight!?" An ominous feeling enters the scene.  Neither of the two friends seems to acknowledge its presence as water starts flowing from Phil's palms, "I wasn't saying you had to!  If you would not bottle up your feelings all the time until they exploded like this then maybe we would have been able to think logically about this!" Flames grew.  The dark alleyway was now illuminated with red burning flames that Dan was admitting, "YOU KNEW THIS ALL WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!  THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!  YOU JUST DRAGGED ME DOWN WITH YOU!  YOU SUGGESTED GOING TO THE BAR THAT NIGHT!  YOU MADE US JUMP OFF A TRAIN!  YOU MADE US DRESS UP IN DISGUISES AND TRY TO SOLVE THIS!  THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!  IF YOU WERE REALLY MY FRIEND THEN YOU WOULDN'T HAVE DRAGGED ME INTO YOUR MESS!" Silence dropped over them.

Words hung imprinted into the think air.  As soon as Dan saw them, his flames died.  Neither of their mouths was capable of working.  Tears reflected in blue and brown eyes alike.   _Phil... I didn't mean it..._ Dan looks into the blue eyes across from his as he thinks.  Before his own eyes, Phil blinks away the tears as his eyes start glowing bright blue.  Water starts to surround Phil as he clenches his fists.  In a cold monotone voice, Phil speaks, "You didn't mean it huh?  I have known you long enough that when you let your emotions out, they are true.  How is this suppose to be the one time they aren't?" Fear froze Dan in place, his voice replaced with that of a frightened child, "P-Phil, just... don't do that, please.  Y-You said you w-wanted to talk this out.  You forgot e-everything last time your eyes went like this..." Growing twice as loud as Dan's voice, Phil yells, "WHY DO YOU CARE!?  YOU JUST CARE ABOUT YOURSELF!  GO AHEAD AND FIGURE THIS OUT ON YOUR OWN!  MAYBE YOU CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF IN THE PROCESS!"  Water threatens to drown Dan.   Backing away slowly, he keeps a careful eye on Phil.   _Phil, please._ Dan thinks.  _You or someone is going to get hurt when you are like that Phil.  Try to understand._ "NO DAN!" Dan wasn't getting the calm answer he wanted, "I AM DONE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING!  JUST GO-" Suddenly, Phil was cut off with a little pop sound.  Glowing eyes diminish to normal.  He collapses on the ground, a tranquilizer dart in his shoulder.  Behind Phil's unconscious body was Walter and Carl smirking with an evil aura.  The same weapon used to take down Phil was aimed onto Dan.  In a panic, he runs away as fast as he can.  Fire shooting from his hands helps him shoot through the streets faster.  Before Carl starts chasing after him, Walter pulls him back with a shake of his head, "We have the one.  We can worry about him later."  All that remains in the alleyway after the men abandon it is a few burnt objects and various puddles of water.


	8. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized very quickly while writing the beginning of this chapter that somehow the beginning part ended up turning out similarly to Dan's fanfiction from TABINOF. Totally unintentional but weirdly really works.
> 
> Also, I wanna give a quick shoutout to my best friend Mel who has been reading this since chapter one and helped me with various things such as deciding some of the names of the baddies! (As well as making fun of some of the ones I got on random name generators with me)

Disheartening clouds gently float to cover the London sky.  A lowering sun removes any glimmer that comes from the gray mass.  Underneath in the city, life continued on.   Everything was moving.  People were heading to various places through their daily routine.  But to Dan, everything was a blur of uncertainty.  None of the life around him breathed.  He felt truly alone and at a loss.  The possibility of ever seeing Phil again or anything becoming normal again seemed slim.  Dan decided to become lost in his thoughts while walking through the dangerous streets.  He was so deeply gone, he barely notices when he literally runs into a pair of young teenaged boys.  "Watch where you are going... miss?" One of them give a confused look at Dan, still disguised as he has been all day.  Upon looking at the two boys, he has to hold back a lump in his throat.  In the hands of one was a phone with the background set to a cool edit of Phil and himself.  Dan mutters while rushing away, "I'm sorry..." Yet he had no clue who he is apologizing to.

As the day disappears for good, Dan keeps walking.  Thoughts and shouts to Phil desperately filled his brain.   _Phil, I didn't mean any of it.  I totally fucked up.  Please forgive me._ After a few hours of this, Dan looks up at where he ended up.  Right in front of him was his street.  Their apartment just within arms reach.  He knew it was a bad idea to go back to their apartment, but there was nowhere else he could go.

A spear of pain went through Dan's heart as he entered the apartment.  The scene seeming all too familiar somehow.  Brightness radiated from the living room in a disrespecting manner.  Dan tries to remember why this seemed familiar before his eyes landed on the copy of their book on the shelf.  It was the first physical copy they received back in 2015 when neither of them knew what all lied ahead.  In the pages of the book laid the fanfiction he himself wrote.  Old familiar feelings he imagined years before had made a reappearance in reality.  The more he looks around at the still apartment, the more he wants to hide away.  Everything had a piece of his best friend on it.  Even the socks left on the coffee table that was usually a source of annoyance made Dan that more depressed.  As quick as possible, he got out of his disguise and proceeded shut every door in the apartment.  His bedroom with similar bedsheets and piano that he would horribly play with his friend singing badly along were too much at the moment so he lays himself down in the hallway.  Closing his eyes, he envisions himself leaving everything and giving up.

* * *

Meanwhile, about 100 miles away from the apartment where Dan was, a silver Ford Fiesta car was driving along an old and creepy dirt road.  A lump covered by a tarp was in the backseat.  In the front seat was Walter and Carl with the younger of the two driving.  The two captors were in a heated debate on whether they should listen try to find a new radio station to listen to as the old one was out of range or if Carl could put in a Spice Girls CD.  Neither of the two notices the lump in the back seat starting to move.  The lump was Phil, who was starting to regain consciousness.  When he managed to open his eyes, all he could see was blurry blue color above himself.  The way he was scrunched uncomfortably into the moving surface he rested on told him he was definitely in a car.  "Please?  We are going to get back to the lab in 15 minutes!" Carl complained from the driver seat, "It will take you 10 minutes to find a station you actually tolerate!" Walter shot back while creating a static feed from the radio, "That is better than Spice Girls!"  Phil listened to a small bit of the debate before carefully readjusting his glasses and peeking out of the tarp.

Through the windows, Phil can see it was night time.  Stars shined bright in the sky, remaining mainly still as the rest of the world zoomed past.  The car smelled slightly of Taco Bell and body odor.  He decided he didn't want to investigate that further.  Carefully, Phil starts to look around at ways to escape.  The doors were locked.  However, the locking mechanism seems to be the kind Phil could pull out.  After looking at how fast they were going, that plan quickly died.  The car was currently traveling over 100 kilometers an hour.  Unlike jumping off the train, Phil had no idea where they were or where any place for a safe high-speed landing could occur.  Besides, cars can turn around.  Phil quietly sighs, trying to think of other options.  But before any were thought up, the car slows down.  "See you didn't even get a station and I got us here early!  We could have listened to two songs on my CD!" Carl complains.  He gets slapped by Walter, "Just get the cargo from the back seat and bring him in while I go in and inform the bosses."  _The bosses?  That has to be the man and woman we saw at the bar in the video._ Phil thinks as he watches the two men get out of the car.  Then another thought pops into his head,  _Wait a second, I am the cargo in the back seat!_

Cold night air blows in when the door opens.  Phil shivers as the tarp is removed from on top of him.  Carl frowns and mutters, "How the hell you awake?  Fine might as well come meet the bosses now." Roughly, Carl drags Phil from the car before looking for something to restrain his hands.  This is Phil's chance.  He uses it by sending a wave over the other man and running away with a yell.  However, his escape becomes short lived as Phil trips over his own feet.  Walter and two other people following him come and grab Phil before he could get up.  "Let go of me!" He commands, his voice higher in pitch out of fear.  "We aren't allowed to do that Phil." A familiar female voice makes Phil freeze and turns to the two people.  Standing in front of him, dressed in pajamas as if they had just got out of bed because of this, was the woman from the bar with the same man by her side.

"Allow us to make your acquaintance officially Mr. Lester," with a posh accent similar to Dan's articulate one, the man introduced themselves within the cold evening, "I am Dr. Bertram and this is my wife Mercy." Phil has to bite back both his laugh and sarcasm with his fear of the unknown things the Bertrams could do to him.  Mercy smirks at him and gestures to the old farmhouse that rested behind them, "Bring him in.  We will start observations and experiments tomorrow.  For tonight, I feel like Mr. Lester here could use some rest." Phil was restrained and dragged into the building by Walter and a now very wet Carl.  As he was dragged along, Phil looks at the Bertrams curiously.

Stepping inside the farmhouse, it seemed like any other old house.  In front of them was a thin hallway leading to a set of stairs leading up.  On the left, there was only one doorway that led to a small dining room.  Opposite of the doorway was another one that led to a living room.  A bit away from the living room doorway was a closed door that lead to a restroom as much as Phil could guess.  "Walter, go upstairs and check up on the two injured.  If their burns are mostly healed help them get ready to go out and get the last subject still out there." Dr. Bertram directs his employees, "Carl, go take Mr. Lester to where he will be staying.  The other three subjects should be asleep." Before any question could escape Phil's mouth, he was being dragged through the dining room and into the large kitchen.  The floor was checked tiled.  White wood cupboards surrounded two of the walls along with the ugly yellow counter top.  The counter top only just matched the equally disgusting peeling wallpaper.  In one corner of the room rested a breakfast bar straight out of a 50's diner.  On the back wall opposite to the entrance from the dining room was a back door leading outside.  It was out this door that Carl drags Phil.  Right outside next to the kitchen door were slanted hatch doors that seemed more like the entrance to a storm cellar.  But on top of the doors was buttons for a security pin code.  Carl enters the code 2519.  The doors click and open to reveal a steep metal staircase leading down into the dark.  Phil is dragged to the stairs and into the darkness.

Down the stairs was a whole different world compared to the normal farmhouse that rested above it.  Phil carefully tries to memorize the maze of white hallways but found that he had lost his way before they were standing in front of a solid steel door with yet another passcode required.  This one was 9283.  After the numbers were imputed, the door slid open revealing a short hallway with six rusty cell doors, three on each side.  Half of the doors were shut and presumably locked.  The others remained ajar slightly to show they were empty.  Phil was dragged to the last door on the left side and shoved inside the cell.  Before given the chance to escape, the door slammed shut followed by the quiet sliding of the steel entrance.  Looking around the cell made Phil's stomach drop.  The walls were pure cinderblocks.  Light dimly filled the room by one light bulb controlled by a string that looked as if it would fall apart in Phil's hand.  The only piece of furniture in the room was a small bed that was very uncomfortable by the mere sight of it.  Phil went over to the rusty cell door and looks out through the bars.  Cautiously, he stutters, "H-Hello?  A-Anyone there?" Almost immediately, he hears a voice from the cell to the right of his, "Ah seems as if the plot has caught up to us!"

"PJ?" Phil asks, slightly relieved at hearing the familiar voice.  "Yep, the one and only!" PJ laughs while talking, "Let me tell you, I'm glad you are here finally!  Being this whole story is revolved around you and Dan it means we are going to get some action happening here now!" Phil gets confused as PJ talks.  Luckily, a voice from a cell on the opposite wall speaks up, "PJ, please don't confuse Phil he just got here." It was Louise's voice, "Sorry Phil!  PJ has been talking about weird stuff like that since we got here.  Those head scientist people say something went wrong with the power PJ has."  Phil tries to look out the bars to see if he could see his friends but to no avail.  PJ starts defending himself, "Technically it did work.  They wanted to give me the power of all the knowledge in the universe and who knows more about this universe than the author?" Phil interjects, "Look can one of you tell me what is going on!" A third voice pipes up this time, seemingly the farthest from his own cell.  This voice was Marzia's, "They are doing some sort of experiment on us."  Louise takes the opportunity to explain more, "Yeah.  Like on New Year's Eve they did something that gave us all some sort of super powers.  For example, mine is that I can shape shift which is actually pretty cool.  Marzia has super speed and PJ is supposed to have unlimited wisdom except he has seemingly gone crazy." Doing a mental list in his head, Phil realizes something, "Wait what about Felix?"  PJ can't help but laugh a bit, causing him to get yelled at by both of the girls.  Afterward, Louise proceeds, "Felix had the power to explode anything with his mind.  In a protest to being a lab rat, he blew himself up yelling something in Swedish." PJ interrupts her, "Hey you have to admit that if he had to die in any fashion, the dramatic exit of fuck you is exactly what he probably enjoyed.  Besides..." Mariza cuts PJ off, not letting Phil get any word in, "Felix isn't actually dead we know PJ you have said the same thing many times.  Now we should go to sleep."  Everyone else agrees, saying their goodnights.  Phil sighs and lays down on his bed, trying to make sense of everything.  He isn't lying there for long when he hears a faint thought run through his head,  _Phil... I'm sorry._


	9. Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look another chapter! Like over a month later I know. I have been super busy with stuff at school like performing in a musical and keeping up on actual school work and sleep so I haven't had the time or motivation to sit and write. But now it's Spring Break so hopefully, I have another chapter coming either this week or next week! :)

Waking up with the familiar carpet rubbing against his body made Dan sigh.  Before fully aware of his situation, he calls into the otherwise lifeless apartment, "Phil, put the kettle on..." When he is greeted with silence, Dan remembers what is actually going on.  His best friend was lost in some unknown location and there was nothing he could do about it.  Dan closes his eyes, as if he kept them closed for long enough, everything would be fixed.  Lying pathetically on the cold floor, he lets out one defeated thought.   _Phil... I'm sorry._ He continues to imagine and think about what he should have said to Phil,  _I shouldn't have said all of that.  I got angry and frustrated.  I know this is stressful on both of us.  Well, was stressful on both of us.  You are probably gone now.  I should just accept that._  Dan gets too lost in these thoughts that he almost doesn't notice the second voice that resonates through his mind.   _Dan, I forgive you.  It's okay.  I am okay._

At first, Dan suppresses his hope.   _You aren't the real Phil.  I am going crazy._ He thinks as he stands up in the dark hallway.  The cold winter air from the outside seemed to seep into the deep desolate darkness of the apartment.  With a desperate plea for trust, Phil echoes once again in Dan's thoughts,  _Dan you aren't going crazy!  This is really me.  Or well, I am Phil.  Please believe me._ His heartbeat quickens.  Dan covers his ears with his hands before yelling out loud, "NO!  I CAN'T!  THIS IS JUST MY MIND WANTING TO MAKE THIS 100% HARDER ON ME!"

_Close your eyes Dan and focus on my voice._ Phil gently whispers inside Dan's head.  Taking a deep breath, Dan follows the directions.  The darkness didn't seem as dark with his eyes closed.  Carefully, his focus shifts to the thoughts inside his own head.  "Phil... please let this actually be you... I need help and both of us know we can't do this alone..." Dan whispers, his voice seeming louder as it resonates through the hall. _Dan, did you know that it's illegal to whisper in someone's ear while they are moose hunting in Alaska?_ Phil inquiries, making Dan let out a small laughing sob.  A tear paints his cheek.  Then another followed, making tear streaks down his face.  Dan keeps his eyes closed, imagining Phil was actually right in front of him as he responds, "No Phil, I didn't know that.  You are the type of spork that would know that huh?"  Dark spots began appearing on the carpet where gravity had pulled on the tears gathering on Dan's chin.  "I'm sorry Phil," Dan apologizes as he wipes the tears away, "I don't mean to cry."  Softly, Phil expresses confusion to the apology,  _Dan?  Why are you apologizing?  It's okay.  Also, are you actually crying?_

Opening his eyes, Dan's harsh reality came crashing in as all he saw was the blank gray wall of the hall in front of him.  He was still alone.  Phil wasn't actually with him.  "This is fucked up!" Dan yells as he feels more tears flowing free, "I just don't know what to do or anything!"  Flames that came from his clenched fists started to light the hall.  The little string of sanity that he still had was slowly being burned away.  Trying to help as much as he can, Phil tried to distract Dan,  _Dan calm down... it's okay.  Um... why don't we..._ He never gets to finish his thought as Dan screams, "WE!?  I AM THE ONLY ONE HERE PHIL!  I AM ALONE HERE!  THERE IS NO WE IN THIS ANYMORE THERE IS JUST ME AND I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CLUE WHAT I AM DOING!" Sobs came tearing from his throat.  The hot flames that engulfed his hands turned into a royal blue color.  All of Phil's thoughts were drowned out of Dan's by his own confused misery.  Like graceful ribbons, the blue flames had started to completely surround him in a protective sphere.  The more that he surrounds himself with fire, the calmer Dan starts to feel.

Sobs slowly start turning into hiccups.  Dan's breathing becomes steadier with tears start to dry.  Phil had gone completely silent in his head, allowing him to have the chance to think a bit more clearly.  Not completely trusting of his own mind yet, Dan spoke his thoughts quietly to himself, "I need help.  But who can help me?  It's not like I can just summon some amazing protagonist from any fiction world that would help me in the thought of this being child's play.  I am a human being who has trouble keeping a decent sleep schedule!  What the hell am I suppose to do all by myself about all of this?"  Slowly, after about 5 minutes, Phil decides to break his silence.   _We can do this together Dan.  You have to trust me, alright?_ The word trust struck a chord with Dan.  Of course, he trusted Phil more than he trusts anyone else in the entire world.  Thinking back on their little adventure so far, he realizes that he has been trusting Phil throughout the whole thing.  No reason can come to him why he should stop now.  "Okay... I am trusting you." Dan concludes with a deep breath.  The blue flames that surrounded him were starting to fade and dissipate into the thick empty air.

Quietly, Phil spoke to Dan mentally,  _First things first, make sure everything in the apartment is closed and locked.  Then you should try to get some proper sleep._ Dan rolls his eyes and sighs sarcastically, "Yes mum, a well rested night will solve ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS right now!"  Despite his sarcasm, Dan listens to Phil and proceeds to go around, closing and locking every possible entrance as tight as a pickle jar lid.  All the cold air he was feeling in the hallway was discovered to come from the kitchen.  The fire escape window was wide open.  Upon looking out of it, Dan discovers Phil's phone on the fire escape.  "Phil, have you missing something today?" Dan laughs as he grabs the phone, "I found your phone on the fire escape."  Almost immediately, Phil starts to panic in his head,  _DON'T OPEN IT!  Wait, I am sorry.  I forgot you can hear my thoughts.  Just please Dan._ Filled with curiosity, Dan quickly unlocks the phone, "Not after a reaction like that!  Besides Phil, we don't..." Dan stops as he sees the background Phil has set for his phone.  It was a selfie they had taken together within one of the first few months of living in London.  He remembers that day pretty clearing being it was the same day that they had the biggest argument they ever had just hours after the picture was taken.  They were spending the late morning and early afternoon in Hyde Park.  Phil had packed his old little red camera and was taking a bunch of pictures with it.  As they had a bit of a picnic under a tree, Phil took a selfie of them under the tree.  They were both extremely happy then.  The opposite could be said about that night.

"I thought I destroyed the camera with this picture on it..." Dan mumbles and he looks at the picture, "How the hell do you have it on your phone even?"  His brain is silent except for the echoes of memory that night.  Vividly, he remembers how he was the first one yelling.  Then they both got to yelling.  It quickly escalated into the climax of Dan throwing the old camera at his best friend before running away, not returning for at least two days.   _The SD card in the camera survived..._ Phil's voice narrates as Dan's memories from the night are replaced by the image of pieces of the shattered camera all over the ground.  Out of the rubble, Phil pulled out the SD card.   _I saved the pictures onto my computer and I wanted to keep the selfie on my phone so yeah.  I have had it as my background ever since but I would always change it if I had to show it to anyone._ Dan bites his lip as more tears threaten to escape.  He whispers, "We will make it through this Phil.  I am not going to be that asshole I was back then."  Phil defensively adds,  _You weren't that much of an asshole!  Besides we were both stressed and such back then and I was a bit of an asshole too..._ Quickly, Dan interrupts the thought, "I am trying to be emotional and inspiring and prove I am a better person now than I was years ago don't ruin the moment or you are rotting in that jail cell." Both of them managed to share a small little laugh before it dying out.  Dan remains silent as he continues looking through the foreign yet familiar phone.

Being slightly annoyed because of it, Dan fixes all the little notification bubbles on multiple apps before stumbling on the notes app.  Now, half of him knew this was a bad idea.  But the other half was too tired and curious to care.  A lot of the notes were grocery lists or random ideas that stumbled out of the mysterious mind of Phil Lester.  But one group of notes happens to catch Dan's eye.  As a whole, the notes were simply called "Dreams."  They are probably just weird dreams Phil saved.  To confirm his suspicion, Dan had to enter the section of notes and open the first one.  Dan was caught off guard as the note was more like a short quick journal entry that described what Phil saw and felt at a specific time rather than telling a dream he had.  "It's bright and sunny today but not too hot making it perfect for me and Dan to go on a walk," the first note said, "He is rambling again about something but I could barely pay attention.  It's ludicrous actually.  Not gonna rant like I did before however.  But something I notice is that he is always freely rambling and expressing his emotion to me.  I know it hard for him and it makes me happy."  Still confused, Dan looks over the note multiple times.  What he couldn't wrap his mind around is why Phil wrote this, plus at least 15 more notes that were most likely similar, on his phone.  Quickly, Dan skips to the most recent entry in the series.  It was written on Decemeber 31st of 2016, a mere couple of hours before they left to the bar.  Unlike the first one, this one was barely a sentence.  "New Years Revolution: Tell Dan," was all there was.  Feeling as if he was only getting more questions than answers, Dan tries speaking to Phil, "What are these notes on your phone?  What do you mean by 'Tell Dan'?" But after 10 minutes of waiting, Dan's anxiety rises as he realizes he wasn't getting an answer.  "I'm going crazy..." he sighs as he tries desperately to reach Phil.


	10. Testing the Waters, and Dan's Composure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ACTUALLY KEPT MY UPDATING PROMISE I SET IN THE LAST CHAPTER! Also, I ran out of creative names and didn't want to find a name generator so that explains that little bit in the chapter.

_What are these notes on your phone?  What do you mean by 'Tell Dan'?_

Phil could barely hear Dan's fading voice as a prick of pain shot through his arm causing him to pass out.  He never even saw the intruder in his cell.

_Mr. Lester, we are going start these tests as Dr. Bertram requested for them to start._

_I'm going crazy... Phil, are you there?_

Phil feels nothing.  The only one of his senses he can use is his hearing.  All the voices started blending together in his head because of this.

_Phil answer me!  Please!  What do you want to tell me!?_

_Here he is sir.  I injected him like you requested._

_Excellent, good work Carl.  Put him over there._

_Phil!  I need you right now!_

Trapped.  Trapped was the only word to describe what Phil felt.  He could do nothing except try to interpret everything he was hearing.

_Phil, I swear to fucking god if you don't answer me I will... I will... Remove all your wins on the Dan vs. Phil board!_

_Interesting case indeed.  The progress of his powers so far is over expectations._

_Okay, that was a bit of a joke but please Phil!_

_Carl, hook Mr. Lester up for me._

_Yes, sir._

_If you die, I don't know what I am going to do.  I am going to save you.  Please just still be there for me to save._

Eventually, all the voices went silent to Phil as well, leaving himself completely in the dark

* * *

Dan paces up and down the hall.  Millions of plans and ideas rushing through his head at an alarming rate.  He started keeping track of the amount of time since Phil went silent where he is now up to an hour and a half.  Outside, the sun was just starting to peek above the horizon, casting an unsure light over the city.  Along with the sunrise came the knock on the door of their quiet apartment.  With a groan, Dan starts to go to open it before stopping with a slightly amusing idea popping into his head.  Honestly, Dan thinks it's the postman at the door.  He never liked the postman who always came to their home anyway.  One day, the postman laughed at Phil when he retrieved the mail in crooked glasses and cookie monster pajamas.  Who says Dan can't get his amusing revenge for the years of early morning post?  Besides, it would make Phil happy as Dan knows the same postman annoys him as well.  Now a slightly bit more energized, Dan lights himself on fire.  Weirdly, the flames from his hands and hair were still a dark blue in color.  But at the same time, Dan decides to ignore it.  According to science, blue flames are hotter than orange anyway.  With his fire equipped, Dan prepares to give the postman the scare of his life as he opens the door.  Sadly, it was not the mean postman that was at the door.  It was the two people in suits that Dan remembers being the two people to start chasing Phil while Walter and Carl were on his trail days ago.

Upon seeing the fire, the two at the door backed away.  "Oh come on how do you already have the fire out isn't burning us once enough for you!?" The man complains as his gun clatters to the floor.  Dan sighs and is about to just shut and lock the door up before a lightbulb came on in his brain.  Filled with a new determination, he towers over the two enemies before demanding, "You two are coming in and telling me all you know about this shit.  If you don't, I promise these new burns will be way worse than the previous ones!" The two suited figures didn't have any hesitation to running into the apartment at that point.  Dan closes and locks the door before following the two guests into the lounge.

"One of you better start talking," Dan commands as he stands before the two.  The woman from the pair clears her throat and speaks, "Look, we honestly don't know much more than we are allowed.  Honestly, we are the lowest level assistants.  All we are allowed to deal with is retrieving stuff for the doctor." Glaring at the two, Dan's eyes start glowing threateningly without him completely realizing it.  This obviously has an effect on the pair as they try to shrink into the couch.  "We can give you the basic of what the doctor's experiment is!" The suited man of the two pleas.  With a sigh, Dan nods and lets his fire die out.  He moves the armchair diagonal from the couch to right in front of the couch.  Sitting on the edge of it, he waits for the two assistants to start explaining.  The woman continues speaking this time, "Basically, what the whole basis for Dr. Bertram's experiment is that he wants to create a superhuman.  He has been working with his wife, Mercy, on this experiment for about 7 years now.  They recently got to testing the thing they came up with to actually give humans the power.  Originally, they just grabbed random citizens from the streets and tried it on them.  But it proved to be less than successful.  They ended up having no control to compare the differences between the humans before and after they took the substance and what effects it had on them both mentally and physically." Dan sits up, more interested at this point.  All the scrambled pieces of the puzzle were coming together.  With the new knowledge, Dan tries completing the story for himself, "Me and Phil are Youtubers.  Our friends that we were out with on New Year's Eve were Youtubers.  The videos we put on the internet provide that control to compare before and after we were super drugged." Quietly, the man opposite Dan nods in agreement, "You are right.  So that's why you were targeted.  And other than where the lab with your friends is, that is all we know."

Dan stands up and walks around in thought.  He still had plenty of questions left unanswered.  Questions such as, "Why can me and Phil read each other's minds then?" and "Why does this doctor want a super human to exist?"  But above all, one question ironically burns in Dan's mind.  This is the one he asks aloud, "What happened to those people who ended up in the less than successful experiment?"  Both pairs of eyes ended up glued to the floor.  This gives Dan the vibe that he doesn't want to know.  But if Phil ended up 'less than successful' like those others, Dan needed to know what was going to happen to him.  Firmly towering the two frightened figures, Dan asks again, "What happened to the people in the previous tests!?" The terrified woman quickly blurts out, "They are sorta not here anymore and one of our low-level jobs were to hide the bodies!"  The man stares at her with a look of disbelief, "You couldn't have been any more honest there Jessie!?"  Dan blocks out their bickering as he thinks about what the woman, apparently named Jessie, just said.   _They will kill us.  If we aren't up to their standards they are going to fucking kill us in cold blood and force Team Rocket here to dispose of the evidence._ Dan takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "Both of you shut up!" The bark quickly silences the bickering co-workers.

In the silence, Dan leaves the lounge after surrounding Jessie and her male partner with fire so they would not escape.  The colors of Phil's bedroom seem dimmer when he enters it.  Biting his lip, he tries to ignore it while looking around for what he needs.  A duffel bag from the top of the closet.  Random balls and other projectile objects that were found in the trunk.  He even manages to find a replica sword from Kill Bill that Phil bought a while ago.  He stuffs all of it into the duffel bag and slings it on his back.  The gray floor suddenly becomes the main focus as Dan leaves Phil's bedroom and goes back to the living room.  Carefully, Dan makes the blue flames surrounding his visitors disappear.  "Let's go to this lab and get my friends back," Dan directs to the two still cowardly crowding on the couch, "And if you dare to refuse to lead me to this lab, I still have flames here!"  The other two people quickly responded to the command.

"So Mr. Howell," The male, which Dan just decided to nickname James for convenience, starts small talking as he starts driving, "How's... life?" Dan rolls his eyes as he remarks, "I have had a long couple of days as you guys probably know.  Running away from people is fucking exhausting." After trying to participate in the awkward conversation, Dan closes his eyes and reaches out for Phil.  He continues getting nothing.  Not even a dream.  "Phil, what the heck is going on?" Dan mutters, only to be caught by Jessie.  She lectures Dan, "Muttering to yourself isn't making a difference flame head.  Besides, Dr. Bertram usually is up by now.  Mercy probably is as well.  My guess is they are running tests on Waterboy.  I heard from Carl that apparently he is a bit different from the rest of you and the Doctor is very interested in him.  So technically that's what the heck is probably going on to him with my knowledge." Ignoring common safety of driving, James turns his head and glares at Jessie.  "You know," James remarks, "I should duck tape your mouth shut."  This calm remarking is only interrupted by the second safety hazard glowing blue in the backseat.  "What do you mean by different than the rest of us?" Dan inquiries in a monotone voice, "What are these tests?"  The car is completely silent for a while.  Blue flickering light threatens to grow and burst.  Before that is allowed to happen, James breaks the tension calmly, "Look, Dan isn't it?  We only know so much.  We don't know the exact tests or what they are exactly planning to do with you guys.  What I can say is that we still have another 45 minutes of driving until we get to your friend-" Dan quickly interrupts, "His name is Phil okay?  We are actual people here.  Now if you don't get me to this lab before he is gone, this whole car is going up in flames." James sighs as he starts speeding, "I will try my best."  Calming down slightly, Dan closes his eyes, wishing this could all be done already.


	11. The Eye of the Storm

_Phil, we are almost there.  I think.  Do you remember seeing this many trees in England?_

Sore fatigue, that's all Phil felt.  The darkness was finally starting to fade and allow his sight to become useful again.

_Phil, please respond.  I can't just sit here without any word from you for much longer._

Processing these foreign thoughts took too much energy that Phil's body didn't have; staying alive hogged the majority of it.

_I would have actually text you back by now if we were using phones.  This is a record of slow response Phil._

Without being able to fully process the first voice, two blurry figures stood at Phil's sides.

"I injected half a dose into him at around 5 in the morning love." a male voice Phil couldn't recognize said.

In response, a hand tightly grips Phil's arm with a female voice accompanying it.

"It isn't working fast enough.  I am giving him the other half."

_Look you better still be alive.  I can see the house we are going to.  Well, I could.  I kinda had to hide under a tarp._

Just as Phil felt as though he was going to use his minuscule energy to protest to whatever he can, a small poke summoned back the darkness.

* * *

Taking deep breaths, Dan tries not to freak out while under the tarp.  "Flame head you gotta keep that tarp still as possible." Jessie says as the car slows down, "None of us want to die here."  Dan tries to listen, he really does.  But his hands keep shaking with minuscule wisps of blue glowing ashes flying around them and his lungs feel as if they could only fill to 25% of their full capacity.  After the original fight at the beginning of their car ride, the atmosphere of their journey was relatively quiet.  But now, Dan felt as if every little noise and movement made was amplified so even aliens could sense it.  The panic of being exposed didn't help all the movement and noise.  In a weird luck, the car stopping makes Dan completely freeze.

From the front seats, Jessie and James open their doors.  Before exiting, Jessie whispers, "Okay Flame Head, you are on your own now.  The only thing you are getting now is the passcode to the lab.  When you get to the doors, you have to enter 2519 on the keypad.  Good luck." With that, Dan was alone again.  He stays lying down in the car and listens to the outside world.  The faint conversation between the grunts and someone else that Dan didn't know the voice of could be barely heard until there was a loud door slam.  Cautiously, Dan peeks out from the tarp and out the window.

In front of his line of sight, Dan sees a very old worn down farmhouse.  In the golden morning light, the once pure white paint can be seen peeling off.  The wood of the porch was completely rotten and fragile except the small path from the stairs to the door that had obviously been recently fixed.  Duct tape was covering one of the second-floor windows where the glass should have been.  If it had been night-time, Dan would have turned right around as he would expect some outlast like shit to go on inside the house just based on the exterior.  However, despite how uninviting the actual building was, the garden around the building was well kept and maintained.  Flowers in various shades of yellow, purple and red protect the perimeter.  The tall grass was the greenest grass Dan had ever seen.  A gentle breeze made the green choir sway in waves; waves that tempted him to join and dance along in his bare feet.  Protecting the whole land was an army of dense trees.  All other human life was currently absent to this strange scene.  Dan was in the eye of the storm.

As quietly as possible, Dan exits the car and hides behind it.  None of the windows of the house could see him.  This is when Dan's common sense seemed to turn on again.   _This is crazy!  I am going to die here!  Why did I get out of the car?  Why did I get in the car?  Why the fuck did I go to that fucking bar!?_ Dan takes a deep breath as he looks around the car towards the house.  He tries to think of the reason he is here badly sneaking into death.  That's when a faint familiar friend pops into his head,  _...Dan..._  Dan freezes and closes his eyes as he whispers to himself, "Phil.  I can't leave Phil here to die.  No matter how much I don't want to die here." He manages to let out a quiet laugh, "We got into this shit together we are dying in this shit together."  A small splash of courage gives Dan the power to quickly rush into the tall grass.  All his years of having existential crises were paying off as he got as close to the earth as physically possible.  But with the lack of stealthy athletic skill, advancing forward was a struggle for Dan.  He goes about 10 centimeters in about 5 minutes.  With a sigh, Dan comes up with a plan B.  He looks around before noticing the space beneath the windows on the house.  If he was crouching, he would be able to walk around the house and stay out of sight from the people in the house. 

Doing the most exercise he has ever done in his life, Dan pushes himself up and sprints to the side of the building.  He catches his breath and stays still under a window for a bit.  Dan gets the slightest idea this is what it felt like to be in the Hunger Games.  He starts slowly walking under the worn down windows.  He does not stop until he is almost at the corner of the building.  What stops him is a voice coming from the window above his head.  "So you didn't get the other one!?"

"So you didn't get the other one!?" a female voice, that Dan doesn't completely recognize, asks.  "No Mercy," A voice that could only belong to James says, "We almost got him but he escaped and we weren't able to track him down."  The female voice sighs and gets closer to the window, "We need Mr. Howell here as soon as possible!  If he reacts anything like Mr. Lester did to the tests then we can't let him still be out there."  _What tests had they put Phil through?_ Dan ponders as he eavesdrops.  "Yes of course," James agrees, "They have some sort of weird connection from what we witnessed of Dan."  The voices start fading away with the sound of loud footsteps.  Before they were out of earshot to Dan, he heard the women say one last thing, "Maybe a little incentive will persuade him to come?  Bet he wouldn't hesitate with his friend's life here." Dan takes a sharp breath at hearing that.  The irony that drips through the situation isn't lost on him, but this also confirms to himself that they won't hesitate to outright kill them.  With more purpose now, Dan continues awkwardly running around the corner of the building.

Now behind the house, Dan spots a cellar door that is by the back entrance.  Upon approaching it, he notices there is a keypad on the door that seemed slightly worn.  The numbers 1, 2, 5, and 9 were obviously pressed more often as they looked more worn than the other numbers on the keypad.  Remembering the passcode Jessie whispered to him earlier, Dan slowly pushes in the passcode.  He whispers as he presses each button, "Okay, two..." Beep.  "Five..." Beep. "One..." Beep. "Nine..." Beep, a green light turns on and the door pops open.  Dan holds in a big breath as he quietly opens the door, revealing a dark staircase.  Tiptoeing down the steps, Dan holds his breath.  At the bottom, he finally sees a glimmer of bright white light.  He stares with caution into the brightly lit hallway.  With some miraculous good luck, it seemed abandoned.  Dan starts to run down it until he comes to a four-way intersection.  To his right was the shortest hallway he had ever seen.  It was only about a meter long with a giant impenetrable steel door at the end of it.  Instead of the expected keypad, this door could only be opened by what looked like a fingerprint scanner.  In front of him, the white corridor continued to another less secure door and a left turn.  Finally, to the left was a hallway that went straight before turning right again.  None looked too promising.

In the end, Dan chose the hall on the left.  Cautiously, he peers down the corner to see another door at the end right by another intersection.  For a moment, with all the twists and turns there seems to be, he feels like he was actually put in a maze.  All of this was just a game and Dan would go through a door to see Phil waiting and asking how he took so long trying to escape the maze.  But Dan knows the true reality of the situation.  He knows how he could be dead by the next sunrise.  He knows Phil could be dead by sunset.  This wasn't just a game.  Locking onto Dan's ankles, the truth started to drag him back.   _Trying is futile._ Dan thought.   _What the hell are you even doing!?  All you are doing is wandering to your death._ His thoughts don't even sound like his anymore even though he very well knows they actually are.  Thoughts along the similar line bounce around his head before he finally stops walking and closes his eyes.  "I can do this.  I have to try and fix this.  I can-" Dan is interrupted from his pep talk by a shout through a nearby door, "DAN!" It takes almost all of Dan's willpower not to shit himself.

"DAN OPEN THIS DOOR PLEASE!" The voice yells again, "THE PLOT IS NOT ADVANCING OTHERWISE!"  Dan cautiously approaches the door, trying to place the voice with a face.  "That isn't you Phil..." Dan calls through the obviously not soundproof door.  The voice continues to demand, "PHIL ISN'T IN HERE BUT WE ARE AND WE HAVE BEEN IN HERE FOR 11 CHAPTERS CAN YOU LET US OUT!" Finally, he was able to place the voice.  "PJ!?" Dan eagerly asks, "Is that you!?"  PJ, now annoyed at this almost paragraph of door dialog, replies, "Yes now open this door if you want to ever find Phil!" Dan agrees and observes the door.  It is silver stainless steel door without a handle of course.  On the wall next to it was a keypad similar to the one outside.  "It has to be the same code doesn't it?" Dan mumbles to himself as he enters the code of 2519.  He is denied with a screeching beep.  Dan looks more at the door, trying to find another way to open it.  He then notices the make of hinges on the left side and calls into the door, "PJ are you standing right by the door?" After a bit of shuffling, PJ replies, "Now I'm not, go ahead."  Dan decides not to question the strange remarks as he steps back and closes his eyes, "You all might want to pray to like every god that this doesn't somehow blow us all up." Carefully, he makes a glowing blue ball of flames in between his hands.  With a deep breath, Dan throws the ball as hard as he can at the door.  When he opened his eyes again, all there was make a small melted dent mocking him.  "Wow, that was very anticlimactic..." He grumbles before he walks up and tries melting the door as quick as he could.

10 minutes later, Dan was through the door with PJ standing in the room.  Behind cell doors, Louise and Marzia looked at the two boys standing free.  "Well it is nice to see you again Dan," Louise greets him as politely as ever, "But could you possibly let us out as well?"  Dan nods and goes over to the wall in between the doors and start trying to melt them quickly.  These doors seemed to be made of a different metal as they melted much quicker.  After a small hole was made through the door, Louise stopped Dan, "I can get out now!" As soon as the fire was gone, Louise transforms into a hummingbird and flies through the hole, making Dan almost shit himself for the second time in the past hour.  Louise shapeshifts back to herself but accidentally falls onto the floor bottom first.  PJ laughs until getting a glare from Louise as she stands up.  Marzia pulls Dan's attention away from the two that were now freed by politely clearing her throat.  "Oh, sorry!" Dan apologizes as he starts to melt the rest of the door, "So you guys have super powers as well."  PJ nods and starts explaining to the annoyance of Louise, "Long story short, Louise has shapeshifting, Marzia has super speed, and I have infinite knowledge of this universe." Louise rolls her eyes, "More like craziness."  As Dan finally frees Marzia and half listens to the friendly bickering coming from PJ and Louise, he notices something is off.  The elephant in the room to Dan is addressed by PJ before he could finish asking, "Oh yeah, Felix had the power to explode anything with his mind and he blew himself up in protest." Marzia and Louise both looked down at the ground as Dan looks in slight shock.  After a bit, he takes a deep breath, "Okay... um... so... he is..." PJ once again interrupts, "Dead?  Yeah.  Well, in this universe at least.  Technically in the actual universe-" Marzia shoots PJ a glare which quickly quiets him before she speaks in a soft voice, "Yeah.  He told us not to be upset and that he was dying on his own terms but it's still hard." Dan solemnly nods.  He lets the reality of what happened settle as he gives Marzia a hug.  She gently returns the hug for a minute before pulling away with a small smile, "Thanks.  But we have to get out of here."  This is when Dan takes charge, "We aren't leaving here without Phil.  We are getting him first."

PJ had managed to find a diagram and a pen out of seemingly nowhere.  The other three have gotten past the point of questioning.  They all quietly sit in one of the intact cells and try to make some sort of plan.  Dan is silent for the first five minutes of ideas being tossed.  Louise suggests PJ distracts the lab workers, Dan and Marzia get Phil, and then she turns into something to get them out of there.  Marzia suggests she runs, contacts the police, and shuts down the whole operation considering this is breaking at least 5 laws.  PJ quickly shuts down her suggestion for "being too logical for it to be chosen."  All while they are brainstorming, Dan's eyes are glued to the layout of the labyrinth lab in front of him.  Mentally tracing his steps, he finds his way back to the highly secured door.  The only label on the map was one that said  _DR. BERTRAM's MAIN LAB_.  Something deep in Dan's gut told him that is where he had to go.  He didn't even wait for the other conversation to cease before blurting out his plan, "We are fighting this ourselves and saving Phil."  His friends looked at him in shock which, to be honest, they had every right to.  Dan was even slightly shocked at himself as he stutters an explanation of some sort, "Um... well yeah.  We kinda got the upper hand.  Like... Like we have the super powers here!  Plus I brought weapons!  We can-" PJ interrupts like always, "Plot hole in that plan there.  I do not see any weapons." Dan's eyes widen as he looks around.  Everywhere he looked, the duffel bag he brought with him was nowhere to be seen.  With slight embarrassment, Dan looks down, "I left them in the car on accident."  Louise couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, "Honestly Dan, if you would have actually remembered them making this plan simpler, I would have expected you been replaced by an alien.  So we don't have these weapons.  What we gonna do now Dan?" Dan smiles at Louise, feeling himself relax a little for the first time since he stepped out of the car earlier.  He takes a deep breath before explaining the rest of the plan.

Like before, Dan was sneaking around all alone.  He was currently making his way back to the main lab door.  Louise and Marzia were searching for someone that could help them get actual access and information.  PJ was staying at the cells in case someone came to check on the supposed prisoners there.  Dan holds his breath as he sneaks through the halls.  Sadly, he ends up feeling as if he took a wrong turn.  Everything looked the same but all in all, everything looked foreign.  He had no checkpoints.  Every time he thought he found his way back, he didn't.  It was all getting rather frustrating to him.  This frustration was quickly replaced by surprise when he ran into a human while turning the corner.  Initially, Dan sets his hands up in a blue blaze, ready to fight.  But the lustrous blue eyes and accompanying smile staring into him made him almost cry.

_Phil._


	12. Do You Trust Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So life has been quite busy for me this summer. Much more than I was expecting and I haven't had the time to just sit down and write this next chapter. But my goal is going to try to finish this fic before the end of summer. And I know this chapter is super short but I really did want to get one chapter written and out. Side note, I also always forget to update the chapter publish date from the original dates and I never notice til after I press publish -.-

Dan felt a wall burst within himself.  He was 18 again as he ran and tackle hugged his friend.  "You not dead!" Dan exclaims, rather loudly, as he feels tears come out of his eyes and land on Phil's shirt.  Phil laughs, "Dan, I could never die here.  Especially when you weren't here!" Phil proceeds to push Dan away from the hug, making Dan a little upset.  But this feeling is quickly replaced with concern as he started looking at Phil properly.  Dan notices a few things different about his friend from the last time he saw him.  Phil's eyes had a slight glow to them, similar to the way they got when they fell off the train.  The glow was significantly dimmer now, but still very obviously present.  His hair was nice groomed into the trademark fringe which, being as he is being held as a prisoner, was odd.  Even the smile on Phil's face seemed off.  Usually, when looking at Phil's real smile, he can see the warmth radiating from it.  The smile Phil was currently wearing seemed to be fake and cold as if it was a locked freezer hiding the body of his latest victim.  Even though they parted fighting, Dan would expect Phil to be at least a bit happier and give him a real smile.  But before he can interrogate his friend, Phil grabs his hand and starts dragging him down a hall, "Come on!  We need to get out of here!"

The little bit of ration left in Dan at the moment fought its way into the air, "Wait!  Phil!  Hold on!  Something seems... off."  Without completely stopping, Phil slows down and looks at him.  Phil still had the ominous glow in his eyes.  Remembering how Phil had no recollection of jumping the train at all, Dan wanted to get the the slight glow out of Phil's eyes.  His fake smile had been replaced by a frown, only this frown seemed just as fake as the smile.  "What are you talking about Dan?" Phil asks, but Dan couldn't find the usual tone of confusion in Phil's voice as he talked.  A bad feeling in the pit of Dan's stomach comes.  It starts at a simmer, feeling as if it will start boiling over at any moment.  Dan stops, clears his throat, and calmly demands, "What did they do to you here Phil?  And I know they did something because you aren't acting normal."  Phil's face falls.  Even though it was the expression that would usually make Dan feel as if he was the shittiest person in the world, it didn't feel real.  Everything Phil did seemed as if it was someone else trying to imitate him.  His tone was off as he snaps at Dan, "Nothing is wrong.  I don't want to talk about it.  I just want to get out of here now."  But Dan doesn't move when Phil tugs at his arm.  After about the fifth tug from Phil with no response, Dan violently burns Phil's hand with a calm blue flame.   _I am not moving until I learn what the fuck is going on with you._ Even in his thought, Dan was deadly serious.  He suppresses his worry and guilt towards Phil behind a frozen facade.

Jumping back from Dan, Phil surrounds his burnt hand in water.  The tears in his eyes almost break Dan.  Almost.  "Dan... please... please trust me," Phil whispers as he looks at his burnt hand, "I just want to get us out of here." Dan's eyes stare into Phil's with a determination he didn't even know he had.  "Phil, what is wrong with you?" Dan's voice was cold and monotone.  Phil looks away from Dan, cringing as he answers, "When we get out of here, I will tell you.  I have been through a lot of shit while here, alright?" Dan bites his lip.  What Phil was probably feeling right now never occurred to Dan, making him feel like a dick.  "I am sorry Phil," Dan apologizes as he grabs Phil's hand once again.  Phil smiles slightly as he starts leading Dan out of the area again.

Nothing they passed seemed familiar to Dan.  They even ended up in a darker hallway than the rest.  Most of the lights seem burned out in this hallway.  The walls were more worn and damaged than anything he has seen to this point.  It gave the vibe of being older than the rest of the facility.  "P-Phil?" Dan nervously asks, "Not that I don't trust you, but I know your sense of direction is shit.  This seems like the completely wrong way." Phil doesn't answer Dan but just keeps dragging him until the hall ends in a dead end.  "Here we are," Phil smirks, the blue glow in his eyes brightening and exponential amount.  Dan feels trapped as he tries tugging his hand away from Phil's death grip.  The blue light in the hallway did nothing to comfort him either.  "Phil!  What are you doing?  Let go of me!" He pleads as he continues trying to pull his hand away.  Phil doesn't look at back Dan as he addresses him, "Dan you need to trust me!  I am getting us out of here!"  Phil's tone of voice was sounding more annoyed and angry, similar to how it was outside the bar the day previously.  "Phil, I don't want to fight again," Dan continues pleading carefully, "I am scared right now and your eyes are really glowing again!"

Dan's pleading didn't seem to work as Phil threw him into the dead end corner.  Dan's eyes closed upon impact.  Pain flared all throughout the back of his body with his head being the worst.  Before he had time to process what was happening, he was surrounded by water.  This time, the water was actively trying to drown him quickly.  Dan flails.  He tries escaping.   _Phil this isn't you!_ Dan panics as he desperately tries getting air.   _PHIL WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?_  Dan was met with no response.  No other thoughts in his head.  Through the sound of the water, he can hear Phil's faint laughter.  It wasn't his usual bright laughter either.  It was a sadistic laughter.  Dan tries to scream through the water, not able to hold his own breath any longer.  Water starts filling his lungs.  Everything he tried seemed futile.  Dan was trapped in this state for was seemed like forever until he was convinced he was going to die any second.  Just as he was giving up and pleading for death, the water disappeared and Dan crashes to the ground.  He coughs all the water out as he is almost dead on the floor.  The sadistic laughter coming from Phil was loud and clear now.  Dan couldn't decide in that moment what hurt worse, his entire body or the fact that Phil did this to him.  Phil, the same one who has been Dan's best friend for years.  The same dork that has to think of a creative thing to call their audience at the beginning of every gaming video.  The same guy who had the idea to draw cat whiskers on their faces in sharpie, basically establishing their whole existence online.   _No.  This isn't my same Phil._  Dan tries to convince himself.   _That is a monster that possessed his body._  A sharp tug of Dan's hair brought him to look up at Phil.  His eyes were still glowing.  "Sorry Danny," Phil says in the most unapologetic voice ever, "If you would have just trusted me."  Dan didn't have the energy to talk back.  He didn't even have any more energy to stay conscious.  Phil and the world around Dan faded to black.


	13. Please Read

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a chapter.

Hey!  Thought you seen the last of me huh!

So tiny explanation, senior year happened.  Became busy actually figuring out how to live.  Joined other fandoms which brought new writing ideas.  Writing Phanfic was pushed to the side.

And its officially now been over a year since this fic has been updated...

oops.

ANYWAYS!  Reading it back is a bit of a nostalgia trip and a MAJOR CRINGE FEST!

Like, I know where my idea was and what it came from.

But I have changed, like majorly, since I originally came up with this story.  And D&P and the Phandom sorta have changed a bit as well since I first created this! (Remember, I came up with this right after TATINOF ended.  And now II is currently going on.)

Trust me, I am still in the Phandom!  It's just finding the motivation to write D&P is difficult.

What I need help with is if there is anyone out there who wants me to write like an Epilogue?  To just quickly explain the rest of the story.

 

Seriously though, thank you to everyone who ever read this mess of a story!  I just feel like I seriously can't finish this properly.

Anyways, sorry for the bit of jumbled A/N writing.  Please leave a comment if you are interested in a little Epilogue just to sorta explain how it ends.

Thanks again to all of you!  Have an amazing and lovely day!


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